Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

This report is timely. It is important that it not be ignored, as Senator Bob Brown has indicated. It is an indictment of the system that is currently in place. It indicates that there needs to be substantial and significant reform. There must be a complete overhaul of printing allowances and, if we do not do so, we further jeopardise our reputations in the community as politicians. No wonder there is cynicism about politicians when this sort of material indicates that the system is not working in the public interest.

The Auditor-General’s report No. 3 2009-10 Performance audit: administration of parliamentarians’ entitlements by the Department of Finance and Deregulation is quite revealing. A sample of printed materials from 144 members of parliament reveals that 74 per cent of items were at varying risk of being outside of entitlements and, further, that successive governments have encouraged the department of finance not to sight or check any printed materials. So there has not been enough oversight. There has not been a system in place to ensure that money is being spent on the purpose for which it is meant to be spent. Further to that, there is real concern that the framework has significant shortcomings. This is not a reflection on the Department of Finance and Deregulation. I think they do a very good job but the framework, the guidelines, are simply not there for the department to be able to ensure that politicians are accountable for their expenses.

Given that the Auditor-General has indicated that there ought to be a framework with overarching principles, I think that must be put in place sooner rather than later so that the printing entitlement is not rorted. There needs to be a framework that guides parliamentarians on their entitlements to ensure that they fall within the guidelines. I believe there ought to be sanctions if we fall outside those guidelines. There also needs to be formal arrangements in a mandatory sense for all of us to ensure that entitlements have been used for the purposes certified. There needs to be greater transparency in relation to the reporting on entitlements and done in way that is more publicly accessible. I think the best way of doing that is to put it on the internet.

I am pleased to see that the Special Minister of State is committed to reform in this area. That is welcome. Taxpayers are fed up with this allowance being used in such a partisan way. The fact that public funding or taxpayers’ money for this allowance was being used for how-to-vote cards is, I think, beyond belief. How can that be seen to be part of what a printing allowance ought reasonably to be about? That is clearly party political. Also, there ought to be rules in place so that newsletters or material from members of parliament paid for by the printing allowance are not distributed or disseminated once the writs are issued. Once the writs are issued for an election, clearly anything that goes out of an MP’s office is party political in the context of the use of a printing allowance. These are important reforms that must be implemented. If we do not do so, I think it will diminish all of us in terms of the system that we have in place.

I checked with my office today about my printing allowance. I used $1,305 in the last 12 months for letterheads, business cards and ‘with compliments’ slips. I am obviously not a very good politician, because I did not put out any newsletters in the last 12 months. It is quite legitimate for MPs to put out newsletters but I would see an allowance that goes beyond $10,000 or $15,000 per annum as being very much party political in nature. It gives a benefit to incumbents whether they are a member of a political party or they are an Independent. I do not think it is healthy in a democracy to have an in-built advantage for incumbents to use public money in this way. So I look forward to working with the government and the opposition on this issue. Senator Ronaldson, as the shadow special minister of state, has a particular interest in it. I think there is real scope for us to clean this up and to do so in a way that will enhance public confidence in the system of entitlements, and that will be a good thing for all of us.