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

What is needed is a leader who is willing to take responsibility for the stewardship of this place, for its functioning and for its role in a democratic nation. He could start by committing to the ordinary processes of accountability, by responding to the reports provided by this place and by insisting that the ministers in his cabinet respond to the reports that are provided by senators in this place and that reflect the evidence provided by Australian citizens. He could follow up by keeping his promise to establish some kind of national integrity body—some kind of anticorruption commission that can deal with the rorts and the scandals that have, sadly, proliferated under his watch.

He could, possibly, direct his people—his ministers and the public servants who work for them in executive government—to take the Senate estimates process seriously. We're going into estimates next week, and I tell you what: what's the bet that we'll see a repeat of the behaviour that we have seen intensify over the last three, four or five years under this government, where questions are taken on notice and then an irrelevant and meaningless answer is provided? Public servants nervously glance sideways at their minister to assess whether on this occasion they should just tell the truth about what is happening in a government program or whether there's some kind of punishment coming their way if they dare to speak up and actually explain what is happening in Australian public programs.

Whether it's responding to references reports, establishing an anticorruption commission or dealing properly with the estimates process, this is a government that is allergic to scrutiny and accountability. A minister in this place hid behind a whiteboard rather than merely be photographed in an uncomfortable week for her. A minister went to the cricket rather than attend a Senate hearing into the crisis occurring in our aged-care facilities as a consequence of the pandemic. This is a government that ignores Auditor-General recommendations. This is a government that's willing to defend its car park rorts, its sports rorts and its decision to purchase land at many, many times its value. It sees no problem with that and no questions to answer.

So is it any surprise at all that it has no interest in the matters that have been considered by the Environment and Communications Committee since 2014? These are questions about direct action, about land care, about finfish aquaculture, about online gambling and the harms it does to Australian families, and about climate change and its impact on fisheries and biodiversity. Do you all think that the Australian public don't care about this? Are these issues that you think aren't important? That is the very strong signal you are sending here. But worse—and I'll return to where I began—is your contempt for and lack of interest in securing and stewarding the health of Australian democratic institutions. (Time expired)