Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I don't take this decision lightly at all. I take the decision to stand here today very seriously. It's a difficult decision to make. This is one of the most important things that we come to this place to do. I think we should suspend the standing orders and have this debate. The time has gone on long enough.

Everyone in this House, I think without exception, thinks that we need a robust federal integrity commission, that people should have trust and confidence in us, in the people that they elect, the people they send here. That's evidenced by the fact that there have been several bills presented to the House. All sides—the Greens, Labor, Liberal and the Independents—have said, 'We've got a bill.' But the problem is that the politics has wrapped it up so tightly that we're not progressing a bill. There's no debate about the fact that we need one, but we're not having the debate on what it should look like. We shouldn't be afraid to have the debate on what it looks like.

There is a place for politics. There's a place for partisan pointscoring. But it's not on something as important as trust and confidence in elected officials. We will never advance this if we can't find a way to come together to collaborate. A good starting point for that is the member for Indi's bill. She's put a lot of work into it. She has consulted widely. She has collaborated. Is it perfect? Maybe not. Why don't we talk about it? Why don't we all come here in good faith and have those conversations and find something that we can take forward in the best interests of all Australians? It's why we're here. It's why we come here. It's the most important thing we do.

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