Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move all amendments on sheet 8045 together:

(1) Clause 1, page 1 (line 8), after "Parliamentary", insert "and Commonwealth Government Employees".

(2) Clause 3, page 2 (line 14), after "Parliamentary", insert "and Commonwealth Government Employees".

(3) Clause 3, page 2 (line 18), after "members of parliament", insert ", Commonwealth judicial officers and Commonwealth government employees".

(4) Clause 4, page 3 (line 22), after "Parliamentary", insert "and Commonwealth Government Employees".

(5) Clause 4, page 3 (after line 25), after the definition of claim, insert:

Commonwealth government employee means:

(a) an official (within the meaning of the PublicGovernance,PerformanceandAccountabilityAct2013) of a Commonwealth entity (within in the meaning of that Act); or

(b) an officer or employee of a Commonwealth company, within the meaning of that Act.

(6) Clause 4, page 9 (after line 20), after the definition of MPworkexpenseslaw, insert:

official travel allowance means an allowance payable to a Commonwealth judicial officer or Commonwealth government employee in connection with travel for official business.

official travel expenditure matter means:

(a) a matter relating to an official travel expense; or

(b) a matter relating to a claim for an official travel expense; or

(c) a matter relating to an official travel allowance; or

(d) a matter relating to a claim for an official travel allowance.

official travel expense means an expense incurred in connection with travel by a Commonwealth judicial officer or Commonwealth government employee for official business.

official work expense means:

(a) an official travel expense; or

(b) an expense (other than an official travel expense) prescribed by the legislative rules.

official work expense matter means:

(a) a matter relating to an official work expense; or

(b) a matter relating to a claim for an official work expense; or

(c) a matter relating to an official travel allowance; or

(d) a matter relating to a claim for an official travel allowance.

(7) Heading to Part 2, page 12 (line 1), after "Parliamentary", insert "andCommonwealthGovernmentEmployees".

(8) Clause 10, page 12 (line 5), after "Parliamentary", insert "and Commonwealth Government Employees".

(9) Clause 10, page 12 (line 9), after "members of parliament", insert ", Commonwealth judicial officers and Commonwealth government employees".

(10) Heading to clause 11, page 14 (line 3), after "Parliamentary", insert "andCommonwealthGovernmentEmployees".

(11) Clause 11, page 14 (line 4), after "Parliamentary", insert "and Commonwealth Government Employees".

(12) Clause 11, page 14 (line 8), after "Parliamentary", insert "and Commonwealth Government Employees".

(13) Clause 12, page 17 (after line 35), after paragraph (1) (za), insert:

(zaa) such functions as are conferred on the Authority by section 12A;

(14) Page 18 (after line 28), after clause 12, insert:

12A Commonwealth judicial officers and Commonwealth government employees

(1) The Authority has the following functions:

(a) to give personal advice to:

  (i) Commonwealth judicial officers; and

  (ii) Commonwealth government employees;

about official travel expenditure matters;

(b) to:

  (i) issue general advisory documents relating to official travel expenditure matters; and

  (ii) if the Authority considers that a particular general advisory document should be published—publish that general advisory document on the Authority's website;

(c) to monitor official travel expenditure matters;

(d) to:

  (i) prepare regular reports about official work expense matters; and

  (ii) publish those reports on the Authority's website;

(e) to:

  (i) prepare other such reports about official work expense matters as the Authority considers appropriate; and

  (ii) if the Authority considers that a particular report should be published—publish that report on the Authority's website;

(f) to conduct, or arrange for the conduct of, such audits relating to official work expense matters as the Authority considers appropriate;

(g) such other functions (if any) as are prescribed by the legislative rules in relation to any of the following:

  (i) official travel expenditure matters;

  (ii) official travel expenses;

  (iii) official travel allowance;

  (iv) official work expense matters;

  (v) official work expenses.

(2) The legislative rules may prescribe modifications of this Act for its application in relation to Commonwealth judicial officers and Commonwealth government employees.

(3) If the legislative rules prescribe modifications of this Act for its application in relation to Commonwealth judicial officers and Commonwealth government employees, then this Act has effect as so modified in relation to Commonwealth judicial officers and Commonwealth government employees.

(15) Page 19 (after line 3), at the end of Division 2, add:

14A Funding

It is the intention of the Parliament that the Authority be funded by a levy imposed on members of parliament, Commonwealth judicial officers and Commonwealth government employees, in proportion to their total annual remuneration.

(16) Clause 36, page 30 (line 12), after "Parliamentary", insert "and Commonwealth Government Employees".

(17) Clause 63, page 43 (line 4), after "Authority", insert "or Independent Parliamentary and Commonwealth Government Employees Expenses Authority".

(18) Title, page 1 (line 2), after "Parliamentary", insert "andCommonwealthGovernmentEmployees".

What my amendment does is that it simply adds to this authority the role of oversighting, in the same way as salaries and entitlements of parliamentarians are oversighted and audited for all Commonwealth government employees.

My amendments—and I will not go through them in any detail—use existing definitions of 'Commonwealth government employee' but include that as being something that the independent parliamentary and Commonwealth government expenses authority would oversight. As I mentioned in my contribution to the second reading debate, it includes anyone who is taxpayer funded, effectively. The bill provides for regulations to give the detail of the extent to which this is done. But, as I said, it does include all Commonwealth judicial officers, Commonwealth government employees and employees of the statutory agencies, and those who are in corporations where the taxpayers, through the ministers, are the sole shareholders.

I draw to the attention of the Senate the new provision, 14A, which I have not mentioned before. This authority would need to be considerably expanded over an authority that is needed for the oversighting of 250-odd parliamentarians' salaries and conditions. If you were to take in the whole of the Public Service statutory agencies, you would obviously need a much bigger organisation, which has an impact on the budget, no doubt.

The amendment includes a recommendation to the parliament that this new authority—much bigger and much more expanded—would be funded by a levy imposed upon members of parliament, Commonwealth judicial officers and Commonwealth government employees in proportion to the total amount of their remuneration. So, the cost of this authority, which would be I suspect quite substantial, will be paid for by a levy on all Commonwealth public servants, judicial officers, parliamentarians, statutory organisation employees, and employees of other corporations where the ministers are the total shareholders. So, there would be a small levy on everyone, which hopefully would pay for the cost of that. Of course, the cost cannot be done by this bill, but the amendment does indicate that it is the intention that that is how this would be funded.

Senator Di Natale mentioned that the Greens were inclined to support this but said that they needed more information. Well, I say to you, Senator Di Natale: unless you know, you do not know. You only know if you know. And the way to know what is happening is to have this expenses authority actually have an ability to audit, to oversight—and to give advice, too, I might say. A very important part of the authority's role is to be able to give advice to parliamentarians and others on the federal taxpayers payroll about what is appropriate, what is the right official travel allowance—those sorts of things.

So, it is an amendment that I cannot imagine would raise any objection. It is relatively simple. It does not go into the ICAC proposal that has been around this chamber on and off over the years. It is not accusing anyone of wrongdoing. It is not accusing anyone of corruption. It is simply saying that, whilst we agree that this is important for parliamentarians, let's extend it to those who have entitlements and salaries that are far higher than those of most parliamentarians and who, as I said before, have the real power and authority—the ones who spend the real money—in the governance of Australia. I am happy to go through any individual clause if any senator requires further clarification, but I think the broad principles are sufficient. This sort of idea would be hugely popular out there in voter land. I am sure all voters would like to know, particularly all voters who are taxpayers—I am confident that they would love to know—just who gets what, and to make sure that all those payments are properly paid and properly used. I mentioned in particular Australia Post, the ABC and the Human Rights Commission, but there are literally hundreds of other organisations that none of us even know about. We do not know what they get paid. We do not know what their conditions are. The ability to find that information is relatively restricted, and I think an authority such as this is a good idea for parliamentarians and a good idea for all of those who are paid by the taxpayer. And I would expect that all parliamentarians, in their new accountability mode, which we have seen today, would be only too keen to extend the role of this authority to cover all employees who are paid for by the Commonwealth taxpayer.