Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

This is really a test of whether Labor walks the talk. The government has made much of this being an era of improved transparency. We have seen speeches from the Prime Minister, including the Light on the Hill speech, about how this will be a new era of openness and accountability. At the National Press Club the Prime Minister said, ‘I believe Australians want greater scrutiny of their government and greater accountability to parliament.’ Well, here is an opportunity to actually do what Labor said it was going to do. This is a chance to walk the talk. It is important because the Australian public deserve to know where their money is going and how it is being applied. The shadow Treasurer has highlighted this amendment as a mechanism of achieving that goal.

You do not have to believe the opposition about this—and you might even be tempted to set aside what the Prime Minister says as people are being asked to set aside her assurance that there would be no carbon tax under a government they led!—but you might be persuaded by President Obama. In his State of the Union speech in January he said:

In the coming year, will also work to rebuild people’s faith in the institution of government. Because you deserve to know exactly how and where your tax dollars are being spent …

That was President Obama. You have heard what Labor has said and how they now won’t walk the talk. You have heard President Obama talk about the importance of this. But it gets worse. This government actually demands others do it but will not do it itself. If you look through some of the Australian aid program requirements that AusAID releases, it sees as a key cornerstone of improving governance in other countries that they should make this information available. It is a key governance objective. The Office of Development Effectiveness report says:

Public accountability depends on the availability of good information about the use of public resources and careful monitoring of government performance.

It in fact requires recipients of funding through AusAID to do what the government refuses to do itself. If you were to look at the line in this tax receipt you would actually know how much money is going to foreign affairs and economic aid. Accompanying that requirement is for other governments to do what this government will not. The government must get behind this measure if it believes at all in accountability and openness and in the good governance that sits behind the public knowing where its money is going. Take it from Obama and take it from the Prime Minister when she is in full flight, but reflect on the fact that this government will not walk the talk. They can support this amendment.

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