Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will support the suspension of standing orders motion that Senator Patrick has moved today, and indeed we would welcome a debate around establishing a national anticorruption commission. Labor is supporting this motion for the simple reason that the Senate needs to take charge of this issue—because the government isn't going to. We have had over 1,000 days since the Prime Minister made the promise that a national anticorruption commission would be put in place. The Senate and the people of Australia have waited 1,000 days, and we haven't had a response from the government other than an explanation that they're going through their processes and that they're putting some focus on the detail. Well, plenty of people have done the work, and it's in the shape of the bill that Senator Patrick is seeking to bring on today.

There are plenty of reasons that this eight-year-old, tired government don't want to get to a debate around a national anticorruption body today or any day leading up to the next election. It's because of the litany of scandals, rorts, waste and mismanagement that this government has presided over and because it would make them vulnerable. That's why we don't have one. We can list them. There's the Western Sydney airport land rip-off. There's the 'pork and ride' scheme. Remember that? Money appropriated by this parliament through a budget was funnelled into seats that the Treasurer held. The Treasurer of Australia gave himself four car parks after telling the people of Australia that this program was for all of them. What a load of rubbish! That's the Treasurer. We know the Prime Minister had his hands all over sports rorts, car park rorts, the Urban Congestion Fund and the Building Better Regions Fund. He's crafted the way that this money gets used for political purposes—money appropriated for public purposes and then used for political purposes.

When a government has its Prime Minister leading the charge, where ministers are rewarded for the misuse of money like this, is it any wonder there is no desire to bring forward a debate about a national anticorruption body? What a surprise! When ministers sacked amid scandal get recycled back into the cabinet, is it any wonder they don't want a debate about a national anticorruption body? The Leader of the Government in the Senate said, 'We've got a set program and we've got all these bills to get to.' The government's filibustering its own bills! Everyone in this place knows that. We dealt with two bills yesterday—and the government added government members to the speakers list long into the night last night—so don't come in here and say you've got all these urgent bills. You don't have a program. You're trying to cut deals left, right and centre because you're losing your own people. You lost five of your own yesterday. They left you because they don't like what's going on in the government. So don't sit here and pretend that you have a long program that we are now interfering with. What an absolute load of rubbish! If that were the case, we would be moving through the bills with the time that has been allocated for them.

This tired, eight-year-old government are going to an election where they are going to be asking for their second decade in power. They have no plans to govern in the national interest. They are now only governing in their own political interest, in their narrow political interest. They exist only for their own political interest, and so the Senate should allow this debate. We have to stand up for ourselves. This government doesn't comply with orders for the production of documents, doesn't answer questions on notice, refuses to be accountable, refuses to be transparent. They treat this Senate with disrespect, and at some time the Senate has to stand up for itself and go, 'You know what, if the government's not going to do its job then we will.' The people of Australia want a national anti-corruption body. They don't trust us. We have to put in place something that responds to the concerns the Australian public have. A thousand and seventy-seven days ago this Prime Minister promised—and we know he's not very good at telling the truth—to put one in place, and we are still waiting. We have the opportunity today for the Senate to take charge and to have that debate, because these guys aren't going to do it. (Time expired)