Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill, National Integrity (Parliamentary Standards) Bill 2018, is a part of a package of bills to promote public trust and confidence in the integrity of parliament, the public sector and our system of government. The package is about creating a culture of integrity, a proactive and solutions focused approach to preventing corruption. This package will implement option 3 of the Transparency International and Griffith University paper Strengthening Australia's national integrity system: priorities for reform. The bill will operate alongside the National Integrity Commission Bill 2018, which I introduced into this place last week.

The bill incorporates aspects and builds on the work of others. I'd particularly like to acknowledge the work of the Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests in their 2011 report Draft code of conduct for members of parliament, in the 43rd Parliament, and the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in their 2015 report Recommended benchmarks for code of conduct applying to members of parliament. The intent of this package is to create a nationally coordinated integrity framework, with an emphasis on prevention, supported by strong powers of investigation to enable criminal charges or other actions in response to cases of corruption.

What will the bill do? This bill focuses on values and a code of conduct. The bill sets out the values parliamentarians hold, as well as a code of conduct. This includes having respect for others regardless of background, dealing with conflicts of interest, using position for profit, outside employment, accepting gifts or hospitality, use of influence and use of public resources. The code requires that a parliamentarian must ensure that their conduct, as a parliamentarian, does not bring discredit upon the parliament.

The values and code of conduct are based on the recommendations of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), of which this parliament is a member. The CPA recommendations are based on extensive research, including by Queensland's Fitzgerald royal commission, the UK Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life, and original research on codes of conduct, commissioned by the CPA, led by Adjunct Professor Ken Coghill.

The bill places the register of interests into legislation, and these are unchanged. This move is ahead of further reviews to lobbying and post-separation employment and regulation of donations and campaign regulation, that are established by this bill. The intent is to eventually have all parliamentary integrity functions operating under a single framework. The Parliamentary Integrity Adviser will be established as an independent office of the parliament. Their role will be to provide independent confidential advice to parliamentarians and our staff about ethics of integrity issues. This model is based on the work of the Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests in the 43rd Parliament and on the operation of the Queensland Integrity Act.

The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner will be an independent office of the parliament. Their role will be:

The commissioner will be independent and report through the relevant privileges committee or minister or the Prime Minister depending on the origin of the referral. The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner will have the power of the Auditor-General in conducting investigations. Any person will be able to make referrals to the commissioners, but the commissioner can determine how to deal with the referrals. If there is a question of corruption beyond a breach of a code of conduct, the commissioner may refer the matter to the National Integrity Commission.

The drafting of this bill was a collaboration with some of Australia's leading thinkers strengthening the integrity of parliament. I acknowledge the assistance of the Hon. Dr Ken Coghill, born in Mansfield in my electorate and former councillor at Wodonga, both in the Indi electorate. He is an associate professor at Monash University and an adjunct professor at Swinburne University. Ken is a member of the government's Open Government Forum, founding member of the Accountability Round Table and former speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria. He was lead author of the code of conduct recommendations adopted by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

I also acknowledge the work of Professor AJ Brown and Transparency International and thank them for their support in pulling together this package of reforms. Without their support we would not have been able to put together such a simple but comprehensive package. I would also like to acknowledge House of Representatives legislative drafter Olivia Gossip. I cannot speak highly enough about the support given to us by drafters. But to Olivia Gossip: thank you for the hours, the time, the energy and the professional skill you have brought to this bill. I acknowledge my own staff, who have worked long and hard on this work, but I particularly acknowledge my political and parliamentary adviser, Jeremy. Thank you very much for your work. All the bills presented today, and the work, have been done with those two, in particular, excellent staff.

But, colleagues, what I really want to say in bringing my comments to a close is: what will it take for this parliament to introduce a code of conduct and surrounding legislation? We have been at this since 2012. We on the crossbench know how important it is. Our communities know how important it is. Industry knows how important it is. To think that we operate in this House without a code of conduct, without an understanding of what it actually means to be a politician and without the resources that we need to get advice on sometimes very tricky ethical issues and then, if need be, to take steps further on corruption! To me, it's an absolute no-brainer. I say to the government: what will it take for you, in this term of parliament, to do what everybody's asking of you—to step up to the plate and to give us the legislation we need? I know you find it difficult. I know, government, you want to argue with me about definitions, but we're up for that. We're grown-ups. We're happy to have the debate in this parliament, but we need our colleagues on the other side to step up and to front up to the fact that we haven't got a code of conduct and that we need one.

I'd now like my colleague from the crossbench, the member for Mayo, to make her comments in support of this as a seconder of the motion.

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

Is the motion seconded?

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to second this motion for the second reading of the bill of the member for Indi, the National Integrity (Parliamentary Standards) Bill 2018. There is a huge body of work that she has done with this bill and also the National Integrity Commission Bill 2018. This is important. At some point, this place needs to step forward and do the right thing, because right now the Australian public thinks very little of us—all of us. They lump us all in the same boat whether we spend $38,000 on our internet at home or not. They think we are all the same, that we all have our snouts in the trough and that all of us here are self-serving. They believe we are guided by self-interest, vested interests or the interests of our donors. They believe this is a horrible place to work—a place with bullying and poor behaviour. Every time I meet with a school—and I meet with at least two schools a week—after I've given a talk about what it's like to be the member for Mayo and how exciting this role is, I say to the students: 'Would you like to be the future member for Mayo? We need people with a heart and a mind.' No hands go up. They believe this is not a good job. They want to have a job where they're respected. Unfortunately, the behaviour of many people in this place has let all of us down.

I commend the member for Indi for this work. This is a huge body of work. If we want the Australian community to trust us again, if we want the Australian community to believe us again and to hold us in high regard, then we need to do the work in this place in order for this to happen. I the urge government and opposition: get behind this. We can't continue to have stories in the media where people are accepting free flights, bags of Rolexes or, as I said, $38,000 worth of internet that they just happened to pay back so it's all okay now. No, it's not okay. Our behaviour in this place needs to lift. We need to treat each other with respect and we need to treat the Australian community with respect in order for that to change. So I commend this bill to the House, and I look forward to working with parliament on it.

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

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.