Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am sorry; the member opposite has gone quiet on that comment. The Greens have pursued the concept of ending that conflict of interest through having an opaque or blind trust so that, if ministers wish to hold shareholdings, their shares go into a blind trust, which is then traded by an independent authority but without the knowledge of the minister. If the former minister opposite says you cannot achieve that, then the alternative would be to divest yourself of those shares.

We come into this parliament in a place of obligation to be open and fair to the electorate. We get highly paid. Average senators are on a base rate of $118,000 a year plus the electoral allowance and all the other allowances that come with it to be commensurate with the work that we do. It is an affront to probity and democracy that ministers in particular continue to trade on the share market with all the implied biases that that brings to mind while they hold the high office of minister and authority under the Crown.

I think the Prime Minister should have put an end to this a long while ago. The Prime Minister should have acted to adopt the Greens’ recommendation. It has been adopted in other parliaments. The legislative option is clearly available. It is the right thing to do, but I suspect that, because Prime Minister Howard holds the market so high in his esteem, he is unable to see the risks that inevitably are involved with continuing to allow ministers and members to trade on the Stock Exchange. It should be stopped. It would be better for all ministers involved it if it were stopped. If the Greens’ concept of an opaque or blind trust as is used overseas had been adopted 10 years ago we would not be in this position today. Senator Santoro would not be. A number of other ministers who have gone from this chamber and from the other place would still be safely here in the parliament and the cabinet.

It is time we looked much more rigorously and sincerely at the options that are available. In the near future, the Greens will introduce into the Senate legislation to require ministers to place any shareholdings they might have into an opaque trust that is administered at arm’s length and without the knowledge of that minister so that her or his work cannot be influenced by the profitability of shares being exchanged and traded on the Stock Exchange.

We will also introduce legislation to clamp down on lobbyists—to make sure that they are registered and that their activities are open and available to public scrutiny. We believe there is a lot to be done to improve the safety of parliamentarians who cannot work it out for themselves and to deliver a more honest and secure performance by ministers in particular to the electorates they represent—to the people of Australia.