Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering on its pledge to return accountability, transparency and integrity to government?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Higgins for her question and for the contribution that she is already making in her short time in this place. I can confidently say she is the best member for Higgins that this House of Representatives has ever seen.

The legislation that we introduced today is fulfilling yet another commitment: the introduction of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Quite clearly we do need to restore faith in our political system. We need to make sure that there is transparency, accountability and integrity. We said we would introduce the legislation and we did it today. It delivers on our promises. We promised broad jurisdiction. This legislation will allow for the investigation of serious or systemic corrupt conduct across the Commonwealth public sector by ministers, parliamentarians, their staff, statutory officeholders, employees of all government entities and government contractors. We delivered.

We promised that it would be independent, and indeed it will be independent of government, with discretion to commence inquiries into serious or systemic corruption on its own initiative or responding to referrals. This legislation delivers on that.

We promised oversight. The body will be overseen by a statutory parliamentary joint committee empowered to require the commission to provide information about its work. This legislation delivers. We promised retrospective powers, and we will deliver that through this as well. We promised public hearings. The commission will have the power to hold public hearings in exceptional circumstances or where it is in the public interest to do. It will make the decision as to whether there will be public hearings or not.

On findings, we promised that it would be empowered to make findings of fact and refer matters to the Director of Public Prosecutions or to the AFP. We have delivered on that. We promised procedural fairness. As contained in legislation, findings will be subject to judicial review.

So this legislation delivers on all of our commitments. We're not the first government to go to an election committing to a national integrity commission, of course. The former government did that prior to 2019. They just didn't get around to it. They didn't get around to even moving the legislation, let alone passing it through the chamber. So we will wait and see what those opposite do, but this legislation is worthy of support of the entire parliament.