Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the member for Kooyong, under standing order 99. I refer to private member's business order of the day No. 4 Lobbying (Improving Government Honesty and Trust) Bill 2024, standing in the member's name. Can the member tell the House why debate on this bill should be resumed urgently and what process is needed for the House to fully consider this bill and ensure that it is passed?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Under standing order 99, the question is permissible.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Indi for her question. She has asked about my private member's bill entitled Lobbying (Improving Government Honesty and Trust) Bill, also known as the 'clean up politics bill'. This bill introduces several measures to improve trust in government decision-making, including an extension of the register of lobbyists, publication of ministers' diaries and closure of the revolving door between ministries and the private sector.

The member asked whether there is urgency in debating this bill, and there is. I first placed this bill before the House last year. It was not debated. With the help of Senator David Pocock we secured a Senate inquiry into the bill. That received 346 submissions but received only a single day of hearings. That inquiry concluded that the government should improve its regulation of lobbyists' activities in this house. The government has not done so, and it has not indicated any plan to do so.

In this 47th Parliament the member for Indi and many of my crossbench colleagues have placed integrity measures before this House: bills to stop pork-barrelling; bills for truth in political advertising; bills for meaningful and equitable reform of electoral donations—we've seen what goes on with that; bills that stop jobs for mates; and bills to protect whistleblowers. Not one of those bills has been debated by this government.

Like me, the member for Indi was elected in 2022 because her community said that it wanted greater transparency, integrity and honesty in government.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member must confine her remarks to timing and procedure. You are weighing into commentary now, so I'm just going to return you back to the question. Under the standing orders there is limited scope for you to answer the question, so it must refer to timing and procedure.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Standing order 99 permits members to ask when bills might be debated. This government has not debated a single private member's bill in this 47th Parliament. I want to reverse the onus and I want to ask the government—I want to ask the Acting Prime Minister and the Attorney-General—when they will act. I would like them to tell my electorate and the electorates of the other members of the crossbench when and how they are going to take action to restore Australia's faith in the integrity, transparency and honesty of its government.