Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a pleasure to rise today to make my contribution regarding this debate about the proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission. I'll start with a brief story from some time ago—in fact, it was a little over 20 years ago—when I was stationed here in Canberra. I'd just left school. I was here at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Over the first couple of years, we were instructed on a great many things, some of which was how to clean things incessantly and bring your room up to standard for inspection. But we were also taught a great deal about leadership, lessons that others who have gone before us have forged, often through incredibly difficult combat situations.

There were a few principles of leadership that we were taught, and we were also taught about the qualities of leadership. Some of those include good, sound, rational decision-making, which is, of course, incredibly important, particularly if you're in a position where you are a leader of Australian men and women of the Australian Defence Force. We were taught about other qualities of leadership, such as courage, and that included physical courage but also moral courage to really stand up for the things that you know to be right.

Unfailingly, one of the other qualities of leadership that was always referred to was integrity, sometimes also referred to as honesty. It was certainly drilled into us quite endlessly. But, for quite some time, it just seemed to blend in with the other qualities until we got to a point in second year, when we were out in the field training range at Majura here, up in the hills of Canberra, on a very, very cold winter's night in the freezing cold air—in fact, it got to minus 12 that night, and I remember because I'd forgotten my wimp mat, so it was incredibly freezing!—and a major came up to us. We were still wide-eyed cadets, so a major was pretty intimidating. He gathered us up and said: 'Righto, guys. Let's have a chat.' This gentleman was what was referred to as the leadership instructor. He said to us, 'Guys, when you hear the word 'integrity', what does it mean?' We faffed around for a while and tried a few different answers, and it was all very clearly unconvincing to this major, who was standing there having a chat with us. He said: 'Guys, it's really, really simple. There are just three things: don't lie, cheat or steal.' That really stuck with me, because it gave me a much easier code to follow than just a single term. I raise that today because it's exactly the sort of thing that, rightly, all Australians expect of their political leaders, and all of us in this House, and in the Senate as well, are absolutely charged with that responsibility to be men and women of integrity as we lead our nation.

The second brief story I'll use is that of what my wife referred to when our children were growing up. When they were very small, if my wife thought they might have told a fib, she would say, 'Stick out your tongue.' I don't know if anyone else in the chamber has come across this before. She would say, 'Stick out your tongue.' They'd stick out their tongue. And she would say, 'Because, if you've told a lie, there will be a little black mark on your tongue, and I will know that you've told a fib.' I hadn't heard that one growing up, but it turns out it's quite effective. If they start blabbering and they don't want to stick their tongue out, it turns out they're probably telling a fib.

So there are different ways in which we can conduct ourselves and different rules and social codes that we try to implement. In this case, I absolutely support the government's firm commitment to do what we said we would do and establish a Commonwealth integrity commission. In fact, Australia's democratic system of representative government, professional and independent judiciary, free media and active civil society all play really important roles in protecting against corruption by enabling and encouraging scrutiny of the public and the private sectors.

This government have committed quite some sizeable funds already—in fact, $106 million of new money in the most recent budget—to establish this commission. We have undertaken a nationwide consultation—because, frankly, we need to get this right—and that included 333 written submissions and 46 consultations, meetings and round tables. This commission will further enhance some of the robust processes which are already in place. We have acknowledged across both sides of this chamber today the need for this commission, and we will see it come to light in quick order.

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