John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Indi for bringing this forward and my colleague. A properly working parliament requires trust, honesty and integrity. It is clear that our standing in the public has taken a bashing, because these key attributes are in question. Between the scandals that have plagued all governments over the past few decades and the chaos that people see in question time and on the news, public faith in our parliamentary institutions is very low. We need a federal ICAC so we can take action, take the first step, to regain the respect of Australians, who need to have confidence that we are all acting with the integrity and honesty that they rightly expect of us.

This sitting fortnight we have seen many members give their valedictory speeches, and a common theme has been the need for bipartisanship. Bipartisanship is necessary for many of our dealings but it is especially important on this issue. We need our leaders and parties to come together on this issue, because a solution will need to outlive a three-year parliament and will need to outlive governments. For too long this has been a political football, each side happier to score political points than to get the job done. The government has proposed a bill but has not accepted debate on it. The opposition hasn't even offered its own version or been willing to do anything constructive, relying simply on criticising the government's bill. None of this is productive.

This needs goodwill between the two parties. We must stop bashing heads and instead put our heads together to work our way forward. This is too important to play politics with, because we've seen what happens around the world when people lose trust in their elected representatives. So let's form a team. A team is a group of people who come together with a common goal. Let's form a team to represent Australians, to ensure honesty and integrity as the foundations for those who represent us and those who seek to lead.

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