Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022. I must say that, like so many other speakers on this side, I contribute to this debate still completely outraged about the actions of the member for Cook. It is quite overwhelming—and that's certainly what people in my electorate constantly tell me—with the size and scale of what happened here. The member for Cook actually took it upon himself to act in this manner and appoint himself to so many portfolios. So I think our outrage and concern is certainly more than warranted, and we hear that in the community all the time. People just find it amazing that this even happened. Never would I have ever believed that here in modern Australia a prime minister would actively seek to damage and distort our democratic processes, parliamentary conventions and Westminster checks and balances. It does seem completely remarkable that somebody would do that in such a way when we need to ensure there is faith in all of these institutions. The previous Prime Minister the member for Cook certainly undermined all of those through these actions. Never would I have thought that it would actually be necessary for there to be specific legislation to ensure that ministers can't be secret ministers. I think we all share that. We never thought we would be here having to speak on legislation like this, yet here we are, having to do this.

Let's just have a look at some of the actions of the member for Cook. Between March 2020 and May 2021, we know the former Prime Minister appointed himself to administer five portfolios in addition to his duties as Prime Minister. Last year out we found out that the member for Cook had appointed himself, firstly, as the Minister for Health on 14 March 2020; as the Minister for Finance on 30 March 2020; as the Minister for Industry, Science, Energy and Resources on 15 April 2021; as the Minister for Home Affairs on 6 May 2021; and as the Treasurer on 6 May 2021—completely remarkable. When I say that when we found out we were all shocked, it wasn't just us on the side of the House. The general public everywhere were completely shocked, and we know that MPs who were members of the former Morrison government were equally shocked. Indeed, four members of the cabinet were very shocked as well and had no knowledge of it. I think when that news broke it was a bit overwhelming, and it still is. I think the reason people were outraged is that it was so devious and undermining to do that and to keep it all a secret.

What is really ironic about the actions of the member for Cook is that he was so eager to have these multiple portfolios of responsibility yet in actual fact he refused to take responsibility for anything. I think that is one of the many hypocritical parts about this. Instead, all we had was a decade of a Liberal-National government that really was bereft of any responsibility at all. That certainly was a characteristic that we saw time and time again with the member for Cook.

As I've said before, this lack of responsibility was very apparent in my region, with the devastating floods that we had just over a year ago. We've just had the first anniversary of those floods, and there is still a very long way for so many people to go with the size and scale and impact of the floods. But that anniversary that has just passed certainly reminded us of the inaction of the member for Cook. Firstly he failed to include the people in my electorate in some of the extended disaster payments, and that was devastating to people on the ground who had been through so much. Secondly, the member for Cook and former Prime Minster failed to come and talk to people on the ground throughout the area and hear firsthand what they had been through. He failed to take responsibility, as the Prime Minister, especially during those times of natural disaster. He was nowhere to be seen during the floods that devastated my region. When we look back also at the terrible bushfires over Christmas 2019, what was the response of the member for Cook and former Prime Minister? He said he didn't hold a hose—again, failing to take responsibility.

During the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, there were many faults and flaws with the vaccine rollout and so many other issues. Again, according to the former Prime Minister, those were the job of somebody else. He would say: 'That's not my job. That's not my job.' It really is unforgivable for a prime minister to not take responsibility. Despite not taking responsibility for those issues, there was the member for Cook secretly having himself sworn in to take responsibility for all these other ministries. So many people in my region are really shocked, I think, and outraged because it is emphatically the job of the Prime Minister to maintain the public's confidence in political leaders and institutions. That is so vital to our nation. Yet here we are.

I am very proud that the Albanese Labor government is taking decisive action with this bill to protect our democracy. The bill before us today has come about due to the very swift actions of our Prime Minister and Attorney-General in establishing an inquiry. The inquiry into the appointment of the former Prime Minister to administer multiple departments was led by former High Court Justice Virginia Bell. These actions are, of course, in stark contrast to the actions of the member for Cook. Our bill will amend the Ministers of State Act 1952 to provide for greater transparency and accountability in Commonwealth administration, ensuring that the people who actually vote us in here—the Australian public—have visibility over the offices that ministers hold. That is so vitally important. Really, it is the cornerstone of our democracy. Specifically this bill provides that the Official Secretary to the Governor-General must publish a notifiable instrument, which will be registered on the publicly accessible Federal Register of Legislation as soon as is reasonably practicable, advising that the Governor-General has chosen, summoned and sworn an executive councillor 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's very important to have these measures in place.

We are putting this bill forward now because it is so important to restore the confidence of the Australian people in our system of government and our institutions and to rebuild that integrity. This is a confidence Australians deserve to have. Anyone in this House can recognise how significant the actions of the member for Cook really have been. In fact, it's important to point out that three of his predecessors have come out and condemned this conduct. Former Prime Minister John Howard said: 'I don't think he should have done that. I don't think there was any need to do it, and I wouldn't have.' Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: 'I'm just not going to defend what was done. It is just highly unconventional, highly unorthodox and shouldn't have happened.' Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: 'This is sinister stuff. This is secret government. This is one of the most appalling things I've ever heard of in our federal government.' The very idea that a prime minister would be secretly sworn in to other ministries is incredible. I think those comments from those former prime ministers reflect the sentiment we felt at the time when we first heard about this.

Then again, there were more developments recently. We discovered that the member for Cook's secret appointments extended beyond himself. We know that multiple assistant ministers were appointed to multiple departments. Ben Morton, the former member for Tangney, was appointed to administer the home affairs department. The member for Capricornia was appointed to administer the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It was all secretive. Whilst these appointments may have been gazetted, the member for Cook specifically requested that there be no swearing-in ceremony. There was secrecy surrounding it. There was no public event to show it was happening and no changes to official ministry lists—again, just more disregard for our democracy and our democratic institutions. In relation to these most recent revelations, the member for McPherson has said:

Given what we've heard, it's not surprising that I wasn't told about it. It's not okay to behave in the way the former Prime Minister and others have in relation to keeping information secret.

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… at no time during those discussions did Ben Morton raise with me the fact he had been appointed to administer that.

It just goes on and on. So we have the former Prime Minister not only appointing himself to portfolios but also secretly appointing other people to roles and, obviously, ensuring that that's kept secret as well. The member for McPherson continues:

It's … extraordinary … it's very disappointing that this information is coming to light now.

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Who knows what the reason was behind any of that … there was no reason to keep that hidden.

I think that reflects how we felt recently when that further information was revealed.

This bill is so important for us to restore faith in our democratic institutions and in our parliament. These are values we on this side hold very dear, and the Australian public do, and they deserve to. This bill, alongside our National Anti-Corruption Commission, will ensure that integrity can be restored. The commission will work to investigate and report on serious and systemic corruption. I was very proud to speak on this bill when it came to the House because that was a very big issue throughout the community for many, many years—they were calling for a national integrity commission. One of the major actions of our government was to introduce that. Under the previous government, they refused to do that for many, many years. They refused to have that particular commission in place that's so vitally important. We do that to restore faith in our institutions and our systems that the Australian people deserve.

All of us here in this House, each and every one of us, are immensely privileged and honoured to be standing here, representing all areas right across this great country and also to be active participants in our democracy. We are incredibly privileged to be doing that. When actions are taken, like those of the member for Cook and the former Prime Minister, it does diminish that, because we know that, with the actions that the former Prime Minister took, it was impossible for the parliament and, therefore, the public to hold ministers to account for the running of departments. Members had no knowledge of what was going on at all. It is incredibly disappointing, and, in terms of the role of our parliament, it is incredibly wrong. It's important to have this new legislation in place to restore integrity. It must have been very disheartening for members across the chamber when it all came to light. It was incredibly disheartening for us and the entire general public. It still is absolutely absurd to think that someone in the role of prime minister could take that action as the former Prime Minister did and to just trash our democracy and our institutions, all of which we hold very dear.

That's why we're committed to this legislation. It will fall to us—the Labor Party—to uphold the virtue of those institutions and the parliament, so that there is proper recourse and accountability, and we proudly do that because we believe in all those values and we fight for all those values. I certainly commend this bill to the House. It is very important. It will ensure that a person cannot ever again garner powers without that adequate and warranted accountability to the Australian people, to the Australian parliament and to the House. It does reflect very. very poorly on the member for Cook, the former Prime Minister, in taking those actions, and he should rightly be condemned by people in this House and the general public for that. We very proudly commend this bill, and we will work to upholding the integrity of our institutions that we hold dear. I commend the bill to the House.

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