Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Defence to the question asked by Senator Wong on special purpose flights.

I did just live in a brief shining moment of hope that we were going to get the special purpose flights tabled. The last time the schedule of special purpose flights was tabled by the minister was for the period ending 31 December 2018. I note that this was not tabled by the minister until 28 June 2019. That's eight months overdue. But this is only the last time that the manifests were tabled in this place.

If you go to the Department of Defence website, under 'Defence publications: information to parliament', the last time these have been uploaded for the public to see, as you would expect from an accountable and transparent government, was on 12 November 2013—that was in the 44th Parliament. I would like to read part 2 of the manifest tabling and reporting requirements. Let me give that to the chamber: 'Defence will be responsible to the Minister for Defence for compiling the schedule of special purpose flights for tabling in parliament in June for the six months ending the previous 31 December, and December for the six months ending the previous 30 June, each year. This schedule will list all legs flown, passengers carried and hours and costings. So that guideline was once to be found on the Ministerial and Parliamentary Services website. It has now been removed. Instead, you can now find on the Ministerial and Parliamentary Services website, under the heading 'VIP operations—Department of Defence':

The Department of Defence is responsible for the cost and provision of Commonwealth transport by air (referred to as Special Purpose Aircraft).

Additionally, a determination is published on the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority website. However, curiously missing are any references to scheduling or tabling.

Senator Reynolds seems to see herself as being above these issues. She's ignored recent requests for the information in the chamber. I know she is very proud of her new role as Minister for Defence, a role which she obviously thinks puts her above the daily requirements of this chamber. She has routinely ignored it. I can go back, if people do not believe this, and say that the last time we had special purpose flights tabled was 31 December 2018, and that was eight months overdue. Even on Monday evening, at the naval shipbuilding inquiry, when the government tried the old political line which Senator Reynolds also gave in her response to the question from Senator Wong—'What did the Labor Party ever do for us?'—the answer that came back from Defence to the government senator who asked the question, because they are professional people, was, 'Newsflash: there were projects and there was excellence in the work that was done.' In fact, Senator Wong was reminiscing only during question time that in fact the shipyards were full of work that was being done when the Labor Party was in government.

This is a minister who twists to avoid transparency and accountability at every turn. Sadly, it is symptomatic of this government. As I have said, the minister didn't even front the naval shipbuilding inquiry on Monday night and left the Secretary of the Department of Defence and the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Noonan, to represent the Department of Defence and to answer questions on what is wrong with the most expensive procurement project this nation has ever seen. You might think that she could have bothered herself to come to the table. A couple of weeks ago in question time, as you would remember, Deputy President, she failed to provide an adequate explanation for the party political ad that the Prime Minister's office put out which included the ADF, complete with a 'Donate to the Liberal Party' banner running across the top. She failed to provide an adequate explanation about that. This is a minister who has refused to be upfront with the Australian public when it comes to Australia's Future Submarine program and the government's election commitment to the howitzer program. This is a minister who often goes missing when it counts. (Time expired)