Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.' It was Victor Hugo who said those words a long time ago. But, when I think of the debate about a national integrity commission, they ring true now: 'Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.' I think, in order to restore the faith of Australians in their representatives and our system of democracy, it's time for a national integrity commission. It's time for some courage in this parliament. It's time for some truth in this parliament. It's time for a national integrity commission, more than ever.

I'm proud of the fact that I was the first leader of the Liberal or the Labor or the National parties to publicly endorse a national integrity commission, in January 2018. It was time then. It was proposed 996 days ago that it was time for an independent and well-resourced integrity commission, secure from government interference, with a broad jurisdiction—effectively, a standing royal commission with all of the investigative powers that implies.

At that point, we suggested one commissioner and two deputies, appointed in a bipartisan process by a majority from both sides of the House. The commissioners would be appointed for one fixed five-year term. We suggested 996 days ago it should have the ability to make findings of fact, not law, and, where the findings of fact were appropriate, the matter should then be referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. We said 996 days ago it should report annually to the parliament, overseen by a joint standing committee. It should have the discretion to hold public hearings. It was time, 996 days ago, to have a national integrity commission. It is well past time now.

To be fair, Mr Malcolm Turnbull in June 2018 said he was putting a plan to his cabinet—in June 2018. Indeed, his replacement, Mr Morrison, said in December 2018 that he was going to announce the plan for a Commonwealth integrity commission. But nothing has happened. There's a go-slow. If workers on any site in Australia used the go-slow tactics employed by the industrial workforce of the coalition government, they would be taking illegal industrial action by procrastinating!

This government has many excuses for why, in the last 996 days, it hasn't actually got around to a national integrity commission. There is the 'yeah-nah' school—the yes-no school. Yes, it's a good idea, but, no, now is not the right time. Yes, it's a good idea, but, no, we don't want it to be like New South Wales. Yes, it's a good idea, but, no, we don't like the fact that Labor said it. Yes, it is a good idea, but, no, there's something else on at the moment. They've simply been too busy, they say. I think that, after robodebt, sports rorts and the leaping land deals in Leppington, the excuses have run out.

I was actually disappointed and embarrassed for the government when they said that because of the bushfires they couldn't do the national integrity commission. I think that insults everyone who went through the bushfires. They now say that, because of COVID-19, they haven't been able to turn their minds to a national integrity commission. Every day, Australians have been putting up with this virus, but they've still been going to work, they've still been educating their kids, they've still been living full lives and they've still been coping. But apparently the pandemic has infected this government to the point that they cannot act on a national integrity commission. It's embarrassing. Australians want better. The coalition needs to get with the program. They need to be better than the bare minimum of Australian expectations and the tyranny of the low-risk government. Let's have a national integrity commission now. It is 1,000 days too late already.