Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is the sad truth that trust in our parliaments and our parliamentarians is under threat these days. There is a lot of disquiet in our communities about things like the rorting of programs, about self-interest being put before the national interest, and about debates being shut down. One of the most important things that we as a parliament could do to help restore trust in the way we do our job in parliament and indeed in government and democracy as it stands is to introduce a national anticorruption commission. This would be a really important pillar in restoring trust. But we don't have one in the parliament. The Prime Minister tells us he has a bill. But he's not bringing it in. Why is he not bringing it in? Because Labor don't support it. I'm sorry—blow me down with a feather—but I would have thought, from my years of experience, that this government would delight in bringing in a terrible bill that Labor won't support so that they can try to wedge and sledge us; they do that all the time. I've never seen this government decide that, because Labor won't support one of their bills, it can't be presented to the parliament. What an extraordinary position for the government to take. I suspect it is more to do with the fact that it's a really bad and ineffective proposal and people will see it exposed for what it is.

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