Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As you know, Mr Speaker, today marks the 102nd anniversary of the end of World War I, what we now call Remembrance Day. If I hadn't been in parliament today I would have been commemorating this day at the Semaphore Angel. On this day we pause to remember those who died or suffered for Australia's cause in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. At the end of the First World War, a war more devastating and deadly than anyone could comprehend, our nation made a promise: we will remember them; lest we forget. On this day we as a nation remember and honour all those who have served and suffered and, particularly, those who have died in Australia's name. We stand in silence for the young Australians who lost their lives, 62,000 in the First World War alone. We remember the wounded, the ones who came home scarred by trauma, and those for whom the guns never fell silent. We honour equally every generation of Australian service men and women, people who have dedicated their lives to the defence of our country and the cause of peace.

I had the honour recently of presenting World War II veterans in my electorate at the Wesley House and the Philip Kennedy Centre nursing homes with commemorative medallions and certificates that marked 75 years since the end of World War II. They were wonderful events. Each veteran shared with me stories of their experience and their dedication as soldiers to do their bit in that titanic fight against fascism for freedom and democracy. They expressed to me that to be part of the Australian and, in some cases, Allied forces was a very deep honour and that, no matter what would happen, they were committed to putting their country first. These men I met, and, indeed, all World War II veterans, men and women, around Australia, are a unique generation, what the Americans call the greatest generation. We are forever in their debt. Remembrance Day is a key event in every calendar year. It's our time to remember and to recognise the strength, adversity and resilience of a generation that delivered so much to us. Lest we forget.

It seems almost every day there's another story about some dodgy deal or a new way that the Liberals have taken the Australian public for a ride. It was the sports rorts affair, though, which most clearly showed us that under the Morrison government public funds are increasingly becoming party-political funds—funds where the coalition believes that taxpayer money is their personal bank account to further their own political careers. The Australian National Audit Office report on the sports rorts program released in January made two major findings. Firstly, that grants were made by the then sports minister, Bridget McKenzie, without evident legal capacity; and, secondly, that grants were influenced by the applicants' electorate locations. The Prime Minister himself then added a third issue by claiming that neither he nor his office were involved in selecting successful applicants, when evidence very clearly showed that they were major players in the process.

Within my electorate of Hindmarsh in South Australia, the Woodville-West Torrens Eagles female football players were directly affected by this rort. The club's pitch for $495,000 for female change rooms was overlooked and rejected by the government under the controversial sports grants program, despite being deemed worthy by Sport Australia. The girls, the women and the community at Woodville-West Torrens footy club deserved to be treated on an equal playing field and not to have their grant rejected simply because the suburb of Ottoway, where they wanted to build the change rooms, is not in a Liberal electorate.

These rorts are why Australians continue to lose trust in politics and exactly why a robust federal national integrity commission is so important. Despite all of this, the Morrison government for so long declared that an anticorruption commission was not a priority. But, after being dragged kicking and screaming, they have now proposed a weak, secretive and compromised model, clearly designed to allow the government to pretend that it's acting to address corruption while ensuring it could never be held accountable for its multiple scandals, including sports rorts. The Labor Party stands for integrity and transparency in government, and we have absolutely no tolerance for corruption.