Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022 goes to the very heart of our democracy and is part of the work the Albanese Labor government is doing to restore faith in this institution. Last year, we passed the bill to establish a national anticorruption commission. It is another vital part of the extensive work we are doing to bring integrity back into the government and to this place—something so dreadfully diminished by the actions we've all witnessed of the previous government. That was an election commitment we made, and I've spent hours listening to people in my community in Chisholm tell me how important acting on corruption and restoring faith and trust in government is. It is so important to the people I represent, and it is very important to me personally. I really do—as I hope most of my colleagues do—take the job very seriously here in this place. I don't treat the privilege of being here as a parliamentarian as something that is to be approached like a game. We should not hide from the difficult decisions and conversations we have to make in these jobs, and we should be honest and transparent and accountable to our communities.

While the National Anti-Corruption Commission is one of the ways we're ensuring that this is how the parliament and government function, this bill is another. I, like so many Australians, was completely and utterly appalled by the actions of the member for Cook when it became clear he had appointed himself to several ministries. It was a great shame that there was no meaningful apology to Australians following the revelations made to journalists writing a book, and honestly, we just deserve so much better than the so-called explanation we received as a nation.

I think we have one of the best democratic systems in the world, with compulsory voting and an independent electoral commission, and it should be a great source of pride to Australians that ours was one of the very first nations in the world to enfranchise women to vote. To trash this system, to try to play tricky games with the precious institution of democratic government, is disgraceful. We've seen recently in places such as the United States and Brazil how fragile democracies can be when we do not do everything we can to protect them. In Australia we have ourselves seen that we cannot take anything for granted when it comes to our democracy, and this bill is part of protecting and defending the system of government and governance that we have here. Very importantly, it is about treating Australians—people who vote for us and put us here—with the respect that they deserve.

The Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022 will implement reforms to provide for greater transparency and accountability at the Commonwealth level of our system of government, and this is a great thing. It will ensure that Australians are able to access information relating to the composition of the Federal Executive Council, those appointed to administer certain departments of state, and the high offices that ministers of state hold. These reforms perform a part of our response to the report of the inquiry into the appointment of the former Prime Minister to administer multiple departments, led by former High Court Justice the Hon. Virginia Bell AC.

Introducing this bill demonstrates our readiness to act promptly to restore confidence in our federal system of government and to rebuild integrity in public sector institutions, processes and officials. Of course, the genesis for the Bell inquiry stemmed from media reports, where we all found out that the former Prime Minister, the Hon. Scott Morrison MP, had been appointed to administer multiple portfolios during 2020 and 2021: Health; Finance: Industry, Science, Energy and Resources; Treasury; and Home Affairs. This was on top of his appointment to administer the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. I know that so many people were really shocked and appalled to find this out, and I'm really glad we're taking actions to make sure this cannot happen again.

The government referred these matters to the Solicitor-General, Dr Stephen Donaghue KC. It was clear from his advice that the principles of historical government 'are fundamentally undermined by the actions of the former government'. Following his advice, it was also clear that an appropriate and swift inquiry was needed and that action had to be taken. I'm really glad that we took action. This really should not be about politics. This should be about the system of governance that should be treasured by all of us in this place, and indeed about transparency and accountability to the communities that send us here.

The Westminster traditions of checks and balances need to be honoured. As the Solicitor-General also said, it is impossible for the parliament to hold ministers to account for the administration of departments if it does not know which ministers are responsible for which department. So this really goes to something so fundamental about the way this place operates and about what Australians are entitled to know about who is running the country. It is so significant.

This amendment bill forms one part of our response to Ms Bell's recommendations. Specifically, this bill will require the official secretary to the Governor-General to publish a notifiable instrument, registered on the Federal Register of Legislation as soon as reasonably practicable, that the Governor-General has chosen, summoned and sworn an executive counsellor to the Federal Executive Council, appointed an officer to administer a department of state or directed a minister of state to hold an office. It will also require such notification on the revocation of any of these positions. The notifiable instrument will include the name of the person, the department of state where appropriate, and the date on which they were sworn, appointed or directed. In the case of revocations, the notifiable instrument is to include the name of the person, the name of the former office and the date that such membership, appointment or direction was revoked. The notifiable instrument may also comprise a copy of an instrument by the Governor-General. I hope we can all agree this is only going to be a very good thing for the governance of this country and the accountability we owe to the people that put us here.

The introduction of this bill shows the government is delivering on its promise to restore trust and integrity to federal politics, the centrepiece of which is the recent introduction of legislation for a powerful, transparent and independent national anticorruption commission. The measures in this bill will go some way to provide greater integrity and transparency around the process of appointing elected officials to high office, especially to ensure that we have a system of government where there are real checks and balances and where one person cannot gain powers without adequate and warranted accountability to the Australian people and the Australian parliament. I am really pleased and proud to support this bill.

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