Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition used public interest immunity claims to protect almost everybody in the former government. I talked about Senator McKenzie before, but what about Senator Cash? They used public interest immunity claims to protect her and to avoid producing documents related to the rorting of infrastructure grants and the inflated purchase of the Leppington Triangle land. There isn't a single point where the previous government wasn't prepared to use public interest immunity claims. When properly constructed, public interest immunity claims can be properly used, but the previous government used them to debauch the public sector, to debauch the proper processes of government. What you'll find with the new government is a very strong contrast. It suited the previous government to use these provisions to protect themselves. Again, it's pretty hot to have any criticism in here of this government's approach to those questions.