Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that public perceptions of the pervasive influence that lobbyists have over political decision-making have worsened in recent years;

(2) recognises that there is presently no consistent or visible way of knowing which corporate or stakeholder groups are meeting with Government Ministers;

(3) commits to the:

(a) timely publication of ministerial diaries as a vital transparency and accountability measure;

(b) maintenance and publication of a searchable register that includes the names of all lobbyists accessing this building, and that those persons be identified as a professional lobbyist, an in-house lobbyist and/or a former Government representative; and

(c) transparency of meetings held by those individuals with Members of Parliament; and

(4) agrees to extend the post-employment cooling-off period for former Ministers and senior government officials to three years, in keeping with international best practice.

As Senator John Faulkner said in 2012:

No-one ever argues that governments should have less integrity, that elected officials should not be accountable, or that public servants should behave unethically.

'Broad statements regarding the value of integrity, transparency, accountability and ethics gain agreement from all sides of politics and society.' The thing is that ensuring and enforcing government integrity demands more than just expressions of goodwill. The recent rise in this country of post-truth corrosive Trumpian politics of the far right, which is actively seeding division in our politics, demands of all of us a more muscular democracy. The Australian public has, with good cause, developed great cynicism around politicians and our motivations and actions. That cynicism is corrosive of democracy. It undermines our social licence in this place. It calls into question what we do here and why we do it. Australians need to be able to trust their elected officials. Political integrity is critical to maintaining that trust. Loss of that trust means that we lose the ability to inspire our nation, to make difficult decisions, to be brave, to be bold, to be generous, to legislate to protect the vulnerable and to combat current and intergenerational inequities.

In recent years, we've seen the effect of the loss of that trust in our ability to effectively lead reform of our tax system, to improve affordability of housing, to talk about fairness in our education, in health care, in aged-care sectors, to treat refugees humanely and to act effectively on reconciliation. We've lost the ability to tell the truth to the public and to be believed. To restore the public's faith in our parliamentary and political integrity, we have to put into place the processes, the checks and the safeguards required to demonstrate transparency and accountability to the public's satisfaction. An effective integrity framework demands regulation of lobbying.

I've lodged to this House a private member's bill which was developed with the help of several peak integrity and transparency organisations. The bill includes a provision for a new transparent online lobbyist register, which will include in-house lobbyists as well as third-party lobbyists. It will require lobbyists to lodge transparent quarterly returns. It will legislate publication of ministerial diaries so that we can note in real time who ministers deal with and why. It will impose a longer cooling-off period to ensure that ministers and senior public servants don't work as lobbyists immediately after leaving parliament. It will be enforceable with fines and bans for lobbyists who are in breach of the bill. It will replace the currently existing code of conduct, which is limited, inadequate and unenforced. It's actually worse than nothing because it hides the problem rather than addressing it.

My bill should be debated, and it should be passed by this House. The government's and the opposition's attitudes to it will reflect how they really feel about addressing integrity and transparency in this place. The bill should sit within a broader framework, which should also include action on ministerial standards, political donations, truth in political advertising and an end to pork-barrelling. The establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission was a major achievement which was due, in no small part, to the tireless efforts of my crossbench colleagues. But we need more of those achievements. Public interest disclosure—whistleblowing—is still a fraught area in this country. We desperately need a comprehensive overhaul of the Public Interest Disclosure Act and we need a whistleblower protection commission which has comprehensive jurisdiction over both the public and the private sectors.

It is time to shine a light into the halls of this parliament. As politicians we are judged not only on our words but also on our actions. So I challenge the government and the opposition to support me and my colleagues—the other members of the crossbench—in pushing for better regulation of lobbying and for greater integrity and transparency from our government and in pushing for a return to a form of government in which Australians, our constituents, can believe in.

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