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

This is a very significant development in the chamber now, reaching the conclusion of the second reading debate. I do remember the last government being dragged kicking and screaming to the conclusion that it should introduce a federal integrity commission, and I remember how long it took. It took a series of absolutely extraordinary perversions of the role of ministers and others in public office. It took the sports rorts affair, where the government used public moneys, grant moneys, in a way that was clearly and shamelessly political. It used public moneys in a way that was utterly in the partisan interest. There were other examples during the Morrison period.

Of course, it fit with a prime minister who centralised power in his office to the extent that he had cabinet committees of one, to ensure that information was kept secret, covered up—an extraordinary development. At no time in the history of Federation did we ever have cabinet committees that consisted of one person. We had a Prime Minister who engaged in conduct where, in order to pervert the processes of government, he had himself appointed secretly to at least five ministerial positions. So it's no wonder there is out there in the community a deep distrust of political institutions. At this period, more than in any other period in our history, we need to take steps in terms of our own conduct as parliamentarians and as public officials, and also in terms of the framework that we set out, to deliver a federal integrity commission that supports the proper administration of public affairs in this country and which assists to restore confidence by the public in the operations of this parliament and in the operations of the Commonwealth government.

The last government promised to deliver a commission. In fact, some of the aspects of the bill that they are currently opposing they proposed themselves the last time around. I'm sure that in the committee stage tomorrow we'll hear much more about that. What the last government patently failed to do was to actually bring legislation before the parliament. What the last government failed to do was to deliver on the commitment that they had made to the Australian people to deliver the legislation that they had made a commitment to do. It was a central issue in the last election. Whether members of the House of Representatives were returned to the parliament on the Labor side, or in some of the electorates where members returned were Independents, one of the factors that drove voters was a requirement that they knew they could have confidence that a new Albanese Labor government would deliver and would implement an integrity commission with teeth, and would implement an integrity commission that would do its job.

What we're seeing today is a government that has done two things. It has delivered upon the commitment that it made, but it's also a government that has resolved to work across the parliament with goodwill to try to make sure that in working across the parliament we're delivering a national anticorruption commission that is fit for purpose; has broad support; is durable and effective; and can do its job.

Some political commentators and some members of the public have asked questions—some of them very well motivated—about what kinds of matters the commission will investigate. What kinds of hearings will it conduct?