Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I see that you do not want to hear my points, Senator Brandis. That is the government: it turns its back on the Senate. That is what the government members are very good at: taking a point of order, turning their backs and running out of the chamber. That is what government members do very well because they do not want to hear and they do not want to hold the government to account.

Meanwhile, the actions of the honourable Senator Santoro demonstrate the decline under this government of accountability and probity. It is a small example, although, when you listen to Senator Santoro, you hear that it started out as a small one and then grew like Pinocchio’s nose. But it is an example of where this government is failing on accountability and probity issues. It is but one, and it will be interesting to find out how many more will be dragged out.

There are three key things that hold governments to account in Australia and keep them from straying down the path of maladministration and misappropriation. The first is the government’s own conscience and sense of responsibility. We all know that that flew out the window back in 1997 when the Prime Minister realised just how few of his Liberal and National Party colleagues could actually pass the ministerial code of conduct. So he abandoned it soon after.

When you look at the recent departures of former Minister Ian Campbell and the honourable Senator Santoro, you realise that, in the eyes of this Prime Minister, the sin of these two men was not one of a lapse in good character or judgement. I add that, for the honourable Senator Santoro, it in fact looks like quite a long lapse. No, the sin of these two men was that they stood in the way of the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, and his hold on power. The unwritten ministerial code of conduct that operates in the year 2007 has only a single sentence: do not get in the way of Mr John Howard and his desire to win the next election.

Given that we cannot rely on the conscience and ethics of those on the government benches—the Prime Minister, in particular—to keep themselves in check, let me turn to the next line of defence. The second line of defence is the Australian parliament. That includes the committees, including the Senate Standing Committee of Senators’ Interests. All of those matters are wrapped up in how the Australian parliament and, in particular, this chamber operate effectively both to meet accountability and probity standards and to hold the government to account.

So what happened? The Liberal and National parties, on gaining control, could not wait to sink their teeth into how they were going to control. In a short space of time this government passed extreme laws, took complete control of the Senate committee system and altered it, instructed public servants not to answer difficult questions on AWB at estimates hearings, stopped the Senate committees looking into matters of the AWB and dramatically cut the length of inquiries into government legislation.

That is the record that this government stands on. When it talks here about accountability and probity, this is the record that this government says it should be exemplified for—wrong, wrong and wrong. The actions of the honourable Senator Santoro are just the latest example of how little regard the Liberal and the National parties have for this chamber, this great institution of ours. The honourable Senator Santoro has shown blatant disregard for the rules and procedures that have long been in place here—not just once, but 72 times. And that is just what he has admitted to at last count. We hope to hear more tonight.

It reminds me of the television show Get Smart, where the bumbling Maxwell Smart cannot help but always exaggerate his hand. In this case, the honourable Senator Santoro first fronted the media claiming that it was only one oversight and that he had been proactive in the resolution of that. When caught out, the honourable Senator Santoro fronted the media for a second time, this time saying—would you believe it?—that there were 50 or 60 oversights. But now we know there were 72, at least to date. The only difference is that, while the Chief was keenly aware of and accommodating of his agent’s clumsiness, Mr John Howard expects us to believe that the Prime Minister wears no responsibility for the indiscretions of his own people—his own agent 86. If that is how it is then the Prime Minister really has lost control of his own show.

There is a very simple reason why the honourable. Senator Santoro has disregarded both the ministerial code of conduct and the standing orders of the Senate—that is, he did not expect them to be enforced, quite frankly. That is the worrying element of this whole episode—that he expected neither the code of conduct by the PM nor the senators’ rules by this government’s majority to be enforced. That is the concerning part.

I draw the Senate’s attention to what senior Liberal Party sources said in the media today about the behaviour of the honourable Senator Santoro: ‘He’s actually very secretive.’ I think we would all agree with that. But it is not just the honourable Senator Santoro that is secretive. That is a trait of this entire government. One of the other acts passed after it assumed control of the Senate was a relaxation of the political donations disclosure rules. This government raised the threshold from $1,500 to $10,000 so that fewer donations would need to be reported.

Notwithstanding this, one more check on the growing arrogance and lack of accountability—that is what this government has been removing—is the votes in the ballot box. They in turn are assisted by the media and the opposition in shedding light on this government’s lack of probity. This government has commenced its attack of smear and innuendo only to find its own house not in order. The message is simple: this government needs to clean up its act, get its house in order and join Labor in the debate about the future of this great country. Failure to do so will risk damage not just to its own standing but to that of this fine institution, the Commonwealth parliament. We should stop it and get on with debate about policy and substantive matters. That is what the debate in this house should be on. Those are the issues that need to be debated. But bear in mind that this government has not been doing that. (Time expired)