Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I note that the minister does not consider ethics to be a serious matter. I ask that he acknowledges that for over 30 years committees have been drafting codes of conduct for senators and members without success. In 1975 the Joint Committee of Pecuniary Interests recommended that a joint standing committee be set up for the purpose. In 1977 the Bowen committee recommended a code of conduct for MPs and public servants. In 1986 the Leader of the Government in the Senate moved a motion calling for a committee to consider a code of conduct. In 1989 Democrats Senator Michael Macklin proposed a joint select committee on ethical behaviour. The Prime Minister in 1991 set up a working group to develop a code of conduct—it only met twice and the committee was then dropped. In 1994 the government reconvened the Code of Conduct Working Group that drafted a framework of ethical principles—