Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I table a petition which has been considered by the Petitions Committee and found to be in order. It is signed by 8,782 people and calls for the lifting of suppression orders on documents presented during the Wood royal commission in the 1990s which contain the names of 28 political, judicial and other high-profile figures allegedly connected with paedophilia. A similar petition on change.org has recorded 31,072 signatures, with more added each hour. The petition also calls for a federal integrity body because otherwise the community can have no faith that there will be a proper investigation into these very serious allegations. It needs to be a fair dinkum integrity agency, not the half-baked proposal that the federal government announced last week, because the Australian public doesn't want to see the implementation of the weakest watchdog in the country with investigations held behind closed doors and decisions kept secret.

Public trust in politicians and our institutions is at an all-time low, and suppression orders and uninvestigated allegations of paedophilia help to explain why. So let's get serious about this and do exactly what these petitioners are calling for. Sure, the allegations from the 1990s may ultimately not be substantiated, but, just as surely, they need to be properly investigated by a strong and independent integrity commission. Anything less betrays the community. I present the petition.

The petition read as follows—

On 20th October 2015, Senator Heffernan brought to Parliament and Australias attention, official documents presented during the Wood Royal Commission and again during Royal Commission into Ritual and Sexual Abuse within Institutions. These documents include police documents, naming 28 high profile paedophiles, including one former Prime Minister. Investigation into these documents were stopped. The government and Judiciary have been noted suppressing these documents with orders for 90 years, choosing not to investigate as the public would 'lose faith in the judiciary'. The public have already lost faith in the Government and Judiciary. This is compounded by these suppression orders. We the Australians with integrity and honour stand against these suppression orders and wish to protect our children. We insist these people and institutions be fully investigated, and held to account, including those whom have chosen to cover and suppress any investigations.

We therefore ask the House to 1: Lift the 90 year Suppression Orders on these documents. 2: Create and support permanently, Independent Corruption and Integrity Commission to investigate ANY and ALL corruption exposed within Government, Judiciary and other formal Institutions. 3: Investigate these particular documents suppressed, and bring those guilty to account. 4: Bring justice to the victims and survivors, by exposing those people and systems in place that are corrupt and currently hidden. 5: Clean the institutions of all corruption, to start bringing the public's faith back, showing that our government and judiciary will be honest and work for the people of Australia, while protecting our children's future.

from 8,782 citizens (EN1856)

Petition received.