Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The actions of the former Prime Minister, the member for Cook, in secretly swearing himself into ministries in 2020 and 2021, without the knowledge of ministers and without the knowledge of the Australian people, is one of the darkest periods in our nation's democracy.

It's a fundamental principle of Australian democracy that the people get to choose who administers government on their behalf and that the people have the right to know who is administering government departments on their behalf. That was taken away by the actions of the member for Cook. It fell to media reports for the Australian people to find out in August last year that the former Prime Minister had sworn himself into six portfolios, including Treasury, Health, Finance and Home Affairs—quite serious and large government departments—without telling the ministers who were previously sworn in to administer those departments but, more importantly, not telling the Australian people that he had taken over responsibility for those portfolios—and during a health crisis.

The other point that's remarkable about this is that it wasn't needed. He didn't need to conceal it from the Australian people. Given that we were in a health crisis, I'm sure if he had come out and said, 'Look, I've consulted with ministers and, given that people are getting sick and there's a great risk that many ministers may be struck down with COVID, we've taken the option of swearing additional people in to administer departments in case that occurs,' most people in the Australian public would have said, 'That's quite reasonable.' Certainly we, on this side of the chamber, would have said, 'Yes, that's something reasonable to do in a pandemic,' particularly, as the minister's pointed out, for the Department of Health. So it wasn't even needed. You'd have to question the motivations of the former Prime Minister the member for Cook in doing that. Why didn't he tell the Australian people? I'm sorry, but the justification that was given in the speech delivered by the member for Cook simply wasn't good enough. Australians were rightly horrified. They were horrified that they weren't told about this important principle of knowing who was administering government, particularly during a health crisis.

When we found out, of course, the Albanese government acted appropriately and referred the issue to the Solicitor-General, who recommended that a broader inquiry be undertaken, and we appointed a former High Court judge, Justice Virginia Bell, to look into the matter. She conducted a thorough inquiry and made a number of recommendations to the government in November last year. This bill is a result of those recommendations. It's the government acting on the recommendations that were made independently by Virginia Bell.

These reforms will ensure that the Australian people are able to access information relating to the composition of the Federal Executive Council and those appointed to administer departments and offices that ministers hold. Specifically, it will require the Official Secretary to the Governor-General to publish a notifiable instrument, registered on the Federal Register of Legislation, that the Governor-General has summoned and sworn an executive councillor to the Federal Executive Council and to publish notification of revocation. (Quorum formed)The notifiable instrument will include the name of the person, the department of state and the date on which they were sworn, appointed or directed. In cases of the revocation of the notifiable instrument, it will include the name of the person, the name of the former office and the date when such membership, appointment or direction was revoked. The notifiable instrument may also comprise a copy of an instrument issued by the Governor-General.

This is part of the government restoring transparency and accountability to important decisions such as the swearing of ministers of state to administer government departments on behalf of the Australian people. It comes on the back of other reforms of this government that are aimed at improving transparency and accountability, most notably the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which, as we all know, the Australian people put front and centre of the recent election campaign because they wished to ensure there was government action on this issue. This government will make sure that the Australian people understand who their ministers of state are and know that they are administering government on their behalf.

This episode also demonstrates why we need to begin a serious debate once again about having one of our own as our head of state. I want to make the point that the Governor-General did nothing wrong in the circumstances he was put in by the former prime minister, the member for Cook. The Governor-General acted entirely appropriately in swearing the member for Cook into those ministries. The convention is, under our system, the Westminster system, that the Governor-General acts on the advice of the government of the day, and that is what the Governor-General did. There is no fault at all with the Governor-General. The fault lies with the member for Cook.

I believe that had we had an Australian head of state, one that was appointed by the Australian people either indirectly through the parliament or directly by election then that head of state would be accountable to the Australian people. A head of state put in that situation, such as the one the member for Cook left the Governor-General with, would be obliged, in my view, to ensure that the Australian people were informed of the former prime minister being sworn into those ministries. At the moment the way the Governor-General is appointed, as we all know, is that the Governor-General is the King's or Queen's representative. They swear allegiance to the King or the Queen when they take office. Their obligation is to be the representative of the King or the Queen.

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