Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute briefly to this discussion today on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. I think it is just absolutely appalling that the government are so stubborn—digging their heels in to refuse to allow what is a basic transparency measure to be implemented in this piece of legislation. This is the MO of our Prime Minister. Mr Morrison has to be dragged kicking and screaming to every solution. He has been dragged kicking and screaming to every solution during this COVID crisis and this pandemic, from the early days—when the Prime Minister told people it was fine to be shaking hands and going to the football, while the rest of the country was looking on in horror—to, of course, being dragged kicking and screaming to put in place JobKeeper and payments in the first place.

Now, after months and months of businesses and organisations across this country and workers struggling to deal with the fact that we're still in the midst of the pandemic, we see the Prime Minister dragged kicking and screaming again to put in place something. But, of course, it doesn't go anywhere near what is actually needed to ensure that we look after businesses—particularly small businesses, many of which, I might add, are part of the industries, such as the creative industries, the tourism industries and the hospitality industry, that have been hit the hardest in this country by the COVID lockdowns and the pandemic. But what happens when the Prime Minister gets caught out? His go-to playbook is 'dig in, be stubborn, be pig-headed, and say no'. Then, in a few months time, he'll flip and he'll pretend that that was his position all along. That is what this Prime Minister has done from day dot, and I put it to you that, in terms of the transparency measures we are debating here in this place today—which are basic, which are important and which put squarely at the feet of the government some sensible responsibility—the government's going to have to do this eventually anyway because they're going to have to fess up as to what has happened where and when, and how taxpayers' money has been spent and for what purpose. Meanwhile we have the Prime Minister acting in his usual pig-headed, stubborn manner. 'It's not my responsibility. I don't hold the hose and I certainly don't hold the chequebook,' seems to be his response, even though he is the Prime Minister of the country. In a few months time, we'll see something introduced or some small announcement where he pretends that this was his position the whole time.

The parliament is an important process of review, and, when the Senate chamber does its job properly, it needs to be respected. In this case, we saw an important piece of legislation come in. It wasn't everything we wanted, it doesn't deal with all of the workers who are missing out and it doesn't help all of the businesses that are struggling today, but it does something. In terms of the basic element of transparency of these payments, transparency of how the government is behaving and governing in this country is basic, and our job in the Senate is to make sure we do scrutinise legislation and fix it up where we can. Here, we fixed it; we actually made it better. We sent it down to the Prime Minister's chamber, and he got too stubborn, dug his heels in and said, 'No, bugger off!' This chamber has done its job, and it is about time that the Prime Minister and the government got off their high horse—because it's only a pony, anyway; it doesn't actually exist—and start understanding that, if you want proper governance in this country, you have to work with the people in this room. I am disappointed that Labor are going weak at the knees on this. I understand the argument, but it's disappointing. So thank goodness we have strong voices here in the Senate on the crossbench—the Independents and the Greens—standing for basic elements of accountability, because when you've got a prime minister who refuses to listen and who denies the truth and then pretends he does something totally different later on down the track, the only way you have any chance of holding this government to account is by making sure the crossbench has a long, strong and loud voice in this place. And that is why the Senate should be voting to insist on this amendment today.