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

That is right; it does beggar belief they are ministers. This does not stack up. This was a program that was pushed forward for cheap political purposes, and Minister Arbib’s failure to answer a simple question, in my view, and in the view of those on this side of the chamber—and, I suspect, the Australian community—leads to one conclusion and one conclusion only: he did receive that advice from the department. And, given the role the Prime Minister had given him to deliver this program quickly, that advice was not taken. That is a fundamental breach of the responsibilities of both of those ministers. This is a quote from the Prime Minister:

Ministerial accountability means exactly that—that they should be responsible to the Parliament for their actions, to be responsible for the operation of their department as well. Of course there becomes a difficult and grey area—there might be a minor matter of administration within a department over which the minister has no direct oversight or no direct responsibility. But ministerial accountability means that the executive is accountable to the Parliament for the administration of the department of state. And that is a core principle of Westminster and a core principle, I believe, of restoring Westminster.

The code of ministerial conduct states:

Ministers must accept accountability for the exercise of the powers and functions of their office …

and—

must accept the full implications of the principle of ministerial responsibility.

Neither Minister Arbib or Minister Garrett has accepted that— (Time expired)