Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I won't raise another point of order on irony, because that would be a ripper. Even the member for Cook's flatmate, his best buddy, said his actions were an 'extreme overreach'. This is something the member for New England stands up and says is right and wants to defend.

It's imperative that we protect the core values of accountability. It is reasonable for people to be demanding us to make sure this never happens again. It was such a big betrayal of public trust. It was built on a foundation of public trust being broken down by the former government. We saw millions and millions of dollars go on things that the public never saw. We got a $1.2 trillion debt. That was where we were heading if we kept the same regime we had before. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on a drought envoy for a report that was never seen. Apparently only a 40c SMS was all we got. That was the value we got for it. These are the things that happen. That's why this bill is about making actions speak louder than words.

The Albanese government will continue to work to improve public trust in the government after what we've seen over the past nine years. We are sewing up these loopholes and putting safeguards in so that the Australian public can rest assured that the ability for one person to monopolise ministerial positions is stopped.

The bill is implementing the first of six recommendations from the Bell inquiry, and we have committed to implementing them all. It follows the steps the government has already taken to establish a powerful, transparent and independent National Anti-Corruption Commission, one that was opposed before the last election by the former government. Draw your own conclusions. This will make sure that the parliament, the party in opposition, the Public Service itself and, most importantly, the Australian public will be able to hold government and its ministers accountable. It creates transparent and accessible processes to avoid dodgy dealing in the background.

We are doing this to fulfil Labor's promise to make parliament and all politicians more accountable to the people who give us our jobs. This is just one of the many initiatives and pieces of legislation we are introducing after making a policy of transparency and accountability a key element of our promise to the Australian people. I know this is important to Australians, especially to constituents of our electorate of McEwen. From community meetings to chats on polling booths, to conversations I have when I just pop down the shop, I know integrity in government is something that is at the forefront of people's minds. This bill will not only work to increase transparency and accountability to the Australian public but it will prevent people from using their ministerial positions as Pokemon cards, when they try and collect them all. I'll leave the debate with one of my favourite Irish sayings: anything that keeps a politician humble is healthy for democracy. We should all take that to heart, and that is why I proudly support this bill.

Debate adjourned.

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