Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to respond. We are talking here about the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission. The key is 'independent'. While I absolutely commend the steps that have been taken here with this legislation—that there will be merit based expertise criteria that must be met and that these will need to be advertised—I think the substantive piece of the amendments that I'm moving is the fact that people need to be appointed independently. This is an independent parliamentary standards commission. That is why we need an independent selection panel. It must be done at arm's length. This is an area we don't want to see exploited. We don't want to see a jobs-for-mates culture. It affects people's reputation in this House, so we don't want this to be exploited in any way. We want it to be as trustworthy and as robust as possible, and the absolute key part of the amendments I am moving today is the fact that commissioners should be appointed independently. That is the crux of what I'm calling for with these amendments today.

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