Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

This MPI deals with the failure of the Abbott government to be accountable and transparent. We all recall Mr Abbott's promise, amongst other things—along with 'There will be no cuts to health and education,' and we know how truthful that promise was—the promise from the Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, to restore accountability and to improve transparency. That was what he said. That was one of the things in the little booklet that everybody was holding up as the plan for government.

After five months in office we know the truth. We see a government that fails to display transparency and that fails to meet basic tests of accountability. Instead of transparency this government is obsessed with secrecy. Instead of accountability, this government has misled the public. And one of the most blatant examples of that has been a minister in this place, the Assistant Minister the Health, Senator Nash.

The Assisting Minister for Health had a conflict of interest at the heart of her office. Her chief of staff had financial interests in a lobbying firm which represented clients in the food industry. Of course, this has given rise to legitimate questions about the impartiality and integrity of the minister's decision making. But instead of giving a transparent account; instead of coming into this chamber and giving a full, comprehensive and clear statement about these matters, what we have seen from this minister is stonewalling, refusal to answer questions and misleading statements to this chamber—misleading statements to this parliament.

The Prime Minister's statement of ministerial standards provides:

Ministers are required to provide an honest and comprehensive account—

'and comprehensive account', I repeat—

of their exercise of public office, and of the activities of the agencies within their portfolios, in response to any reasonable and bona fide enquiry by a member of the Parliament or a Parliamentary Committee.

The Prime Minister's statement further says:

Ministers are expected to be honest in the conduct of public office and take all reasonable steps to ensure that they do not mislead the public or the Parliament.

Well, Senator Nash has breached these standards. She has misled this Senate, not just once but several times. This is a serious failure of accountability by the Abbott government and the Prime Minister should ensure that his standards are upheld.

Let me recount the facts about the conflict of interest in Senator Nash's office. Mr Alastair Furnival was engaged as her chief of staff on 19 September 2013. Until 13 February 2014 he was a director and a 50-per-cent shareholder of Strategic Issues Management, which in turn wholly owned the lobbying business Australian Public Affairs. Clients of Australian Public Affairs include Mondelez, which owns Kraft and Cadbury; and the Australian Beverages Council, which represents soft drink and fruit juice manufacturers.

Now, the Prime Minister's Statement of Standards for Ministerial Staff requires staff members to:

Divest themselves, or relinquish control, of interests in any private company or business and/or direct interest in any public company involved in the area of their Ministers’ portfolio responsibilities.

The fact is this. Senator Nash failed to ensure her chief of staff complied with this requirement in the Prime Minister's own statement of standards for ministerial staff. As the Assistant Minister for Health, Senator Nash is responsible for decisions which would clearly affect the commercial interests of these clients of Australian Public Affairs. Decisions like her move to take down the health star rating system website on 6 February at the behest of the powerful Australian Food and Grocery Council have rightly been question in the Senate and by the public. At the time she made this decision, her most senior adviser had a financial interest in a lobbying firm representing confectionery and food manufacturers. To any reasonable person looking at this, it is an obvious conflict of interest; but it appears to be obvious to all except the Assistant Minister. Senator Nash's response to the public revelation of this conflict of interest has been the opposite of transparency and accountability. In particular, she has misled this chamber on a number of occasions. The first mislead was during question time on 11 February, when Senator Nash said:

There is no connection whatsoever between my chief of staff and the company Australian Public Affairs.

It took Senator Nash six hours on 11 February to come into this chamber and reveal that, in fact, Mr Furnival retained a share in Australian Public Affairs, completely contrary to her earlier statement. And she has provided no believable explanation for this mislead. In fact, in estimates last week she admitted she was well aware of Mr Furnival's history as a lobbyist at the time she hired him. How is it possible that a minister could come into this chamber and boldly say there is no connection whatsoever when, at estimates last week, she said, 'I had known Alistair Furnival for a long period of time, and I was very well aware of his previous employment and his previous work history'? All of a sudden she simply forgot it—as a minister coming into this chamber and answering questions in question time. It simply does not stack up.

The second mislead is in relation to the Legislative and Governance Forum on Food Regulation. During question time on 13 February Senator Nash said one of the reasons the website was removed was that

…the forum took a unanimous decision to have an extensive cost-benefit analysis done that was due to report back to the forum in June this year. It was premature to have the website live until this report was completed.

The communique from the forum shows that it took no such decision—unanimous or otherwise. All it shows is that the minister informed the forum that she would direct the department to undertake an analysis; it makes no reference to the website. The decision to take down the website at a time when her chief of staff had interests in the food industry was all Senator Nash's own work. The minister sought to create in this chamber the impression it was a decision of the forum, in an attempt to justify her compromised decision. The fact is she went too far. But she has refused to correct this misleading statement.

Senator Nash's third mislead was her claim that Mr Furnival had resigned from all related companies. In estimates last week Senator Nash said that, after she had engaged Mr Furnival, he maintained a strict separation from Australian Public Affairs and 'resigned as a director from all the related companies'. That is what she said. I invited Senator Nash on a number of occasions in Senate estimates to correct the record. She said Mr Furnival had resigned as a director from all related companies. That was a statement that was not true. Mr Furnival continued to be a director until 13 February 2014—another mislead by this minister.

There was plainly a conflict of interest. It demonstrates a complete lack of judgement and understanding of her responsibilities that the minister continues to refuse to recognise it. Ministerial accountability to the parliament is fundamental to our system of government. It is fundamental that ministers take the responsibility to be truthful and accurate to this chamber; it is a weighty responsibility. The facts demonstrate that this minister has not done so. She has breached the ministerial standards. There was a conflict of interest at the heart of her office and, when it emerged, she has tried to cover it up by misleading the Senate. As the facts have come to light, she has continued to mislead the parliament and has refused to accept responsibility. She has comprehensively walked away from the principle of ministerial accountability, which is so important to our government. And she has been allowed to do so by a Prime Minister and a government which has failed to uphold its own standards. There has been a complete lack of transparency, a failure of accountability. This has been the first big test of the integrity of this government, and they have failed it comprehensively. Instead of treating this chamber with some respect, instead of coming in here and saying, 'I got it wrong; I'm going to comprehensively answer this question; I'm going to comprehensively account for my actions,' what we have continued to see week after week since this was raised is the minister refusing to account for her actions, continuing to mislead the Senate, and providing misleading answers. This is a minister who has not lived up to either the explicit statement of standards or the principles of ministerial responsibility.