Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of the answer. It would be too easy just to be wearily resigned to the secrecy and the endless and naked politicking from this tired, clapped-out government, because we've had eight years of it. Years ago, the government tried hiding the modelling that related to its tax cuts, and it hasn't let up since. We've seen relentless rorting—car parks and sports rorts—all with accompanying colour coded spreadsheets, and, when the government are queried about it, we've seen a bullying and uncompromising assertion that this is fine—that this is what government looks like.

Yesterday in the other place, the government voted to protect Mr Porter from scrutiny, an unprecedented decision to shield a sitting government MP from the scrutiny of the Privileges Committee about unprecedented circumstances where that person sought to establish a legal mechanism to hide his financial interests—unbelievable. This morning here in this place, it's just more of the same. We spent hours on this this morning. Remember, we were all here in the chamber waiting while these people voted to scuttle an attempt by a member of their own coalition, Senator Canavan, to access important modelling about possible climate commitments and the economic consequences of those commitments.

This government says it's all about the economy. It says it's all about the economic interests of regional Australia. It says it's all about Australia's economic future. But it's not interested in a serious public debate about those questions. It's not interested in a serious debate about our future and, as demonstrated this morning, it will do anything possible to prevent such a debate taking place here in this chamber, the very place where such a debate ought to be happening.

It matters. This kind of secrecy is just wrong, and it's reflective of the culture of the government: a relentless, unending pursuit of political solutions and deal-making in response to genuine policy problems. It's all tied up together, because it's easier to do a deal in secret. It's much easier when there are just a handful of actors in the room—a nice little subcommittee of cabinet, with just a handful of people who can cut a deal to shunt money off in one direction in exchange for another kind of commitment that may or may not be in the national interest. When you have cut your deal, it's a lot easier to spin it when there are very few facts about the content of that agreement, about the content of the negotiation and about what has actually been agreed and the consequences for Australia and Australians. It is much easier to spin when there aren't facts out there to contradict your narrative, but it's not what the national interest requires.

This is a big, serious and consequential challenge. It's one that our peers all around the globe are willing to take on. Around the globe, when we see serious climate action, it's not the product of secret meetings or some new augmented schedule to the coalition deal between the Liberals and the Nationals. Serious climate action is a consequence of bringing people along. Serious economic reform requires a conversation with the very communities whose lives will change—an honest and open conversation that reassures people that you have their interests at heart and are not just skating through to the next election in order to keep your job, your ministry, your cosy spot and your big car.

What's needed is a serious public conversation to grapple with an existential challenge that every serious country in the world—all of our peers—is grappling with at this very moment. Mr Morrison is going to go to Glasgow, he says. He should go with a serious plan to take Australia into the future—one that has been the subject of public discussion. The pathetic, endless attempts to reduce this to a grubby deal do no-one any credit. (Time expired)