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

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. Unlike Senator Brandis, I do not think the public is airily dismissing the allegations which are being made at the Commission Against Corruption inquiry. I do not think the public thinks that having a corrupt set of activities by an entity, whereby money from water users is channelled to inappropriate purposes—including payments to the Liberal Party and a sham arrangement with the Obeid family—is something that can be airily dismissed by a man who is supposed to be the first law officer of the land.

It may be that Senator Sinodinos has a clear explanation as to how, the day after he became chair, this sham arrangement which is the subject of a corruption investigation could have been entered into. It may be that he did not know about it. It may be that he did know about it but was misled as to its nature. I do not know. But I say to the Senate: if you come into this place and you give a statement which references some of what has occurred but omits key facts about what else has occurred, then you are entitled to be asked by this Senate to provide further details. That is particularly so when there are assertions on the public record which go specifically to the omissions in your statement, and it is particularly so when you are a minister of the Crown. Whilst all of us in this place have an obligation to be truthful and frank with this chamber, I would remind those opposite that, amongst other things, the Statement of Ministerial Standards also requires in relation to ministers that 'their conduct in a private capacity upholds the laws of Australia, and demonstrates appropriately high standards of personal integrity'. That is what is required of ministers: that their conduct in a private capacity upholds the laws of Australia and demonstrates appropriately high standards of personal integrity. If Senator Sinodinos has something to say in response to the allegations and assertions which have been put on the public record in the Commission Against Corruption inquiry, I think that, as a minister, he should come in and make that statement.

I am going to close now. I just want to make a comment about the statement of standards. This is a government that has been in office for around six months. In that short time we have seen the trashing of ministerial conduct and accountability and a contempt for this parliament. I would say this: this Prime Minister is a dangerous combination of arrogance and weakness. He is arrogant in leading a government which refuses to be accountable to the public and weak in failing to uphold his own statement of ministerial standards. A prime minister who stood by the high standards of conduct which are expected of ministers in his own statement of ministerial standards would have required the Assistant Treasurer to attend this Senate and make an appropriate and full explanation.