Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. Of course she hails from the state of Queensland in which we see a conservative government demonstrating what they really think about free speech as they muzzle the not-for-profit sector and the people who do good work in our community because they do not want people to complain about the cuts they are making. This is from the party that prides itself on being the party of free speech.

I have been waiting to hear from the Queenslanders on that side because they are generally very quiet—Senator Brandis and Senator Macdonald. I have been waiting for them to actually stand up and argue for free speech for Queenslanders. I have been waiting for that, but I suspect we are still waiting. On this side of the chamber we understand the importance of the not-for-profit sector and we understand its value. We appreciate the important work community organisations do. We believe it is vital for these organisations to be independent and free to advocate for change. That is why this government is safeguarding the right of the not-for-profit sector to advocate in the interests of the community.

As a government, we have made clear that we will ban the use of gag clauses in government contracts with the not-for-profit sector, because we actually believe in freedom of speech. When we came to government in 2008, we made clear the position of the Labor government. In 2008 we introduced this as Commonwealth policy, and now we are taking this one step further and we will legislate for it. We will legislate to ban the gag clauses that are a part of the conservative modus operandi.