Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. In 2018, the Prime Minister claimed that he had begun work on a National Integrity Commission at the beginning of that year. It's now 2020. Where is the government's National Integrity Commission legislation?

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The legislation's with me. It's very well advanced—350 pages at the moment.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, the Labor proposition is that because the government wants to take the time to properly design and consult on something as important and as complicated as a Commonwealth Integrity Commission, that somehow the Labor Party is the paragon of integrity—because we want to take the time. The reasons I find that proposition fairly hard to take seriously are three-fold. First, when Labor announced a commitment to an integrity commission, they radically under-funded their proposal, allocating $58.7 million. In our previous budget we allocated $106.7 million, which is on top of the $40.7 million of existing funding.

The second reason I find their proposition hard to take seriously is that they themselves said that this is a complicated matter that would take time to draft and then require time to consult on. Indeed, the member for Maribyrnong said, 'As you would appreciate, a reform of this magnitude is complex and would require extensive consultation and design work.' In their own policy document they said that, if they were elected, a draft would be produced 12 months after the election, which time we are well inside.

The third reason I take with a grain of salt their proposition that they are paragons of integrity is that when this issue was first raised with the shadow A-G he said, 'I'm not convinced there is a need for another integrity officer.' A bit of a problem with a skiing trip was the context of that being raised. They have no model themselves, so that means that they haven't once declined to support the Greens' model but then supported the Greens' model. Another reason I find their proposition difficult to stomach is that the Labor Party themselves have tried to—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Attorney-General will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was a clear question. It didn't go to alternatives or anything else. It went to their own commitment—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am taking it as a point of order on relevance. The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. I have been listening very carefully and the Leader of the Opposition has taken his point of order. I do have to say that everything the Attorney has been saying goes to the timetable and the reasons for the timetable the government is taking. He's entitled to answer the question that has been asked and be relevant to the question, and every aspect, I have to say, that he has raised goes directly to the timetable that the government has for this legislation. The Attorney has the call.

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course, then there's the little integrity problem of 10 failed referrals on serious criminal matters, all of which have come back with zero. But, of course, the most interesting thing of all is the way in which the Labor Party has sought to link support for an integrity commission to party political fundraising. Can you believe it? At the time that they announced their commitment to an integrity commission, an email comes out from the Labor Party that begins with the sentence 'Politics is about trust.' So far so good. Then it says, 'Will you pledge your support for a National Integrity Commission?' And how do you do that? By clicking on the little red button that says 'Donate $5 to the Labor Party'! So, in an email where they pretend that they are the only side of politics supporting an integrity commission, they lead people to believe that the only way they can get an integrity commission is to donate money to the Labor Party. And who sent out that email? It was the shadow Attorney-General. The more money you pay, the more integrity you get!