Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Our amendments, the amendments that have been brought forward by the shadow Treasurer today, are about transparency and honesty in government. Julia Gillard said—and we cannot repeat it enough—when she was handed government by the Independents and by the Greens that she would draw open the curtains and ‘let the sun shine in’. We hold her to account on that, but her record is not that good. Her record on openness, accountability and transparency is not very good at all. That is why the Independents made the Labor Party sign an agreement in section 22 of annex A of the agreement to form government with Labor that they needed to take further steps to be an open and accountable government. This is the first big test for the Assistant Treasurer here today. He has the opportunity to allow taxpayers to know how their taxpayer dollars are going to be spent.

This government has a toxic record of secrecy. It has a record of secrecy in a number of things, the first of which is the NBN. It has been very secretive about the NBN. It will not do a cost-benefit analysis of the NBN because it does not want the people to know. This is despite the fact that the chairman of the Productivity Commission has called for it, the governor of the Reserve Bank has called for it. In fact the OECD reports have called for it. But, no, this government has a toxic level of secrecy. The pink batts issue is another example. This government has rejected a judicial inquiry into the $2.4 billion pink batts debacle. The mining tax as well. The government will not release the evidence on which its assumptions are predicated. And now we have the carbon tax, which this government promised it would not introduce before the last election and yet—surprise, surprise—it is introducing today.

It is important to reflect upon this promise, to reflect on the honesty of this government. I would like to quote the great Labor luminary Graham Richardson, because he has something to say on this matter. Graham Richardson, who lives by the philosophy ‘whatever it takes’ said this:

No weasel words, no amount of spin can alter the record; she promised solemnly there would be no carbon tax from a government she led. The words were strong. There was no wriggle room, no back door.

We do not wish there to be a back door on accountability in this government. We want honesty in this government. We have seen fake Julia, we have seen real Julia, we have seen dishonest Julia; we want honest Julia. This amendment goes directly to honesty and transparency in this government. I urge the government to support these amendments.

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