Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition is moving this motion today to ensure compliance with the guidelines for the use of special purpose aircraft published by the Department of Finance. Under paragraph 25 of these guidelines, the Minister for Defence is responsible for tabling the schedule of special purpose flights:

…in June (for the six months ending the previous 31 December) and December (for the six months ending the previous 30 June).

Regrettably, under this government, the schedule has routinely been tabled late. For example, the flight schedules for 1 January 2016 to 30 June 2016, which were to be tabled by the end of December, were not tabled until 8 August 2017—over eight months late. Six other schedules, out of nine, have been tabled late by the government.

The convention is that schedules are tabled in the last sitting day of June and December. Today is the last scheduled sitting day in June. I note the opposition has only taken this step after inquiring of the minister's office and giving the minister advanced notice of this motion, which, regrettably, has not resulted in the schedule being produced.