Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

You would think so, Senator Humphries. But rather than that, there was no initiative and no acceptance; there were just hollow, false words uttered by the Prime Minister. This is, I am afraid, just one example of the failure of the so-called openness and transparency that the Prime Minister took to the Australian people. I am prepared to accept that they took him at face value. They clearly did: he won; we lost. So they have obviously taken him at face value that he would be a Prime Minister running an open and transparent government.

Within a tad over 100 days we have seen no openness and no transparency. We have seen an attempt to hide and run from a motion calling on comprehensive reform of campaign finance and political donations. So much for the openness and transparency! Where has the much-lauded lobbyist register disappeared to? Where has the ministerial staff code of conduct disappeared to? Before Christmas there were bells, whistles, bands and dancing girls—you name it. There was the whole lot up and down the street with this example of openness and transparency. Someone rained on the parade, didn’t they? That was the Prime Minister, who is happy to go out and talk about these things at press conferences when confronted with some difficult questions, but, when push comes to shove, where is he? He is strangely silent in relation to all these matters.

Speaking of strangely silent, the Prime Minister has been strangely silent in relation to the question of union donations. He is happy to talk about overseas donations. He is happy to talk about caps and a couple of other matters he has pulled out in relation to campaign finance reform. There has been no mention of this. He had to be pushed at a press conference again. He said ‘yes’, but he could not bring himself to utter the words that the political donations of the union movement to the Australian Labor Party should be part of this reference. It will be part of this reference, but so will corporate donations, associated entity donations and third-party donations, because the coalition has made it quite clear that it wants a comprehensive review of where this issue is—not little bits and pieces plucked out to defend the Wollongong New South Wales ALP sex and donation scandal, but comprehensive reform.

I will finish my speech as I started. In this chamber yesterday, the coalition, the Democrats, Family First and the Greens voted to support reform. The government, the Australian Labor Party, refused to do so and, for that, they stand utterly condemned.

I seek leave to incorporate Senator Stott Despoja’s speech.

Leave granted.