Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words—

"the Bill be considered immediately".

There is a loophole that has been open since November 2019 that is hampering the work of the disability royal commission and that is stopping people having the confidence to come and tell their stories. The government has known about this loophole since it was first raised by the commissioner. Then, in this parliament, Senator Steele-John took the matter to the government in February last year and said, 'There is a problem with the legislation.' The problem with the legislation that the royal commission itself has identified is this: there is a real question mark, in many instances, over whether evidence that someone gives or comments that someone makes or information that someone provides to the commission remains confidential when the commission concludes its work.

You only have to think about this for a couple of minutes to understand why this would make some people—people who have already been through a lot; more than any of us should have to go through—think twice before coming to give their stories. You can understand why it led the commissioner and the royal commission, in its recent report, to say, 'This question around confidentiality is getting in the way of us doing our work.' So we brought it to the government's attention.

The royal commission raised it in 2019. We brought it to the government's attention back in February 2020 and said, 'You need to introduce a bill to fix this.' That was a year ago. A year ago we put this to the government, and the government said, 'Yes, we accept it's a problem.' Great, you accept it's a problem. It's a problem that is hurting people with a disability who want the confidence to tell their story. It's a problem that the commissioner says is affecting the commission's ability to do its work. The government has known this for over a year and has admitted it is a problem.

We kept waiting and waiting and waiting for the government to bring in a bill to fix it, and it won't do it. The government refuses to do it. It's either laziness, malice or a distinct lack of care. Whatever the excuse is, it is inexcusable. The government can rush into this place legislation that takes away people's rights at work and say, 'It's urgent; we've got to deal with it.' But, when they've had over a year to close a loophole in one of the most important royal commissions we have had for some time, they can't get around to doing it.

So we have taken action. We have taken action to close the loophole. We have taken action and brought into the Senate a bill that will close the loophole. With the support of the Labour Party and the crossbench working together, that bill got through the Senate. That doesn't happen every day. It does not happen every day that we sit here in this chamber and deal with a bill that has majority support in the Senate. Think about the varying interests represented in the Senate. Think about what it takes to get them all lined up against the government. The government has to have seriously stuffed up for the whole Senate to join together and say, 'You have refused to close this loophole for a year with no good reason, so we are doing it for you.'

The government comes in here today and says, 'No, we can't consider it immediately because—just take it from us—we've got a bill in the works.' Well, that's what you said back in October, government. When we introduced this bill and brought it to the Senate in October you said: 'No, we can't support it now, because we've got our own bill. It's coming. Just you wait.' We are here in February 2020, a year after we raised it with the government, and there is still no bill.

I guess it shouldn't surprise us, because that's exactly what the government have done when it comes to establishing an independent anticorruption commission. They said, 'Oh, no, we cannot possibly deal with a bill that has passed the Senate and got support from the Senate, because we've got our own.' It shouldn't have surprised us. But we did hold out hope that, even if they wouldn't listen to the Greens, they would at least listen to the royal commission.

The Second progress report of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability makes it clear that the limitations of the confidentiality provisions are impinging on people's willingness to speak with the commission and affecting the scope of the commission's work. An entire section of this progress report is devoted to confidentiality protections, or the lack thereof, and the challenges this situation presents to the important work of the commission. You can only be left with the conclusion that, if they won't bring a bill in when they are being asked to fix a problem and close a loophole, the government are perhaps deliberately trying to undermine the work of the commission. They have had over a year to bring in a bill that deals with a technical matter about confidentiality. All of the words from the government about supporting the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability evaporate when you understand that they are not giving the commission the tools to do its job, and one is invited to form the conclusion that they are doing it deliberately. Why else would you sit on your hands for more than a year? Maybe it's laziness, or maybe it's priorities—maybe it's more important to cut people's rights at work than it is to give people with a disability the right to go and tell their story.

We have had ample opportunity during the course of a year, in what is the longest and most expensive royal commission in Australia's history, to tidy up this loophole and to help the commission do its work, and the government has refused to act. When this bill was being debated in the Senate today, members of the government were almost embarrassed to get up and make their contributions. They were falling over themselves to say, 'We not only support the commission; we understand this is a problem and we really hope it's going to be fixed.' They are right to be embarrassed. The people with responsibility have dragged their heels for over a year, and they cannot come up with a single good excuse as to why it has taken this long, other than that it is supposedly complicated. Well, that's why you've got a department. That's why you've got the resources of government at your disposal—to deal with things that actually aren't that complicated. We all know what the problem is. The royal commission has spelt it out in detail. Bring in a bill to fix it.

I heard those embarrassed members of the government backbench saying today, 'Look, just take it on trust that this problem will be fixed by the time the commission concludes.' Has anyone else ever been asked to give information or evidence to a royal commission, under circumstances where they think it's confidential, to just be told, 'Oh, no, it might not be confidential now, but trust us and we'll fix it up by the end'? No-one has ever been asked to appear before a royal commission or to provide information to a royal commission on the basis of an IOU from the government that they'll fix it up before the commission ends. No! And no-one should be asked to do it for this critical royal commission either.

I say to the government: we've heard this before. We've heard your excuses before, over and over again—'Don't worry, a bill is in the works.' Well, it is now at the point where the royal commission itself is pleading in its interim report to fix this problem. You know, government, that this is hampering the commission's ability to do its work. You know that it's inhibiting people from feeling the confidence they need to come and tell their stories, at a time when they need everyone supporting them, including the government and the force of law. I hope the government reconsiders. It tells you something when the whole political array of the Senate lines up together to say, 'Fix this loophole.' Bills like this don't come very often, and, when they do, it's a sign the government has failed to do its job. The government should support this amendment, debate the bill and pass it.

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