James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked today.

I'm going to start with the responses from Senator Wong to Senator Birmingham's question about estimates and accountability and transparency. It is clear with this Labor government that it's not what they do, but it's what they say. They're not being transparent, they're not being accountable, but they're saying they are. Indeed, before the election the Prime Minister said that the Australian people deserve transparency and accountability, but what we found out in the last 16 hours is that this Labor government are reducing estimates—the time for non-government senators to ask questions of the government as to how public moneys are expended. We have found out, under Labor's proposals for the sitting schedule in the coming year, that they've reduced the estimates schedule by 25 per cent. This has overturned decades of convention that there are at least four weeks of estimates each year—estimates where non-government senators, regardless of who is in power, Labor or the coalition, can ask questions of the government. What we find with this Labor government, who promised transparency and accountability, is that they're doing everything but that. Indeed, transparency and accountability have just popped outside of this building. They've called a cab or an Uber and they're heading to the airport and getting the heck out of Canberra.

That is what we're seeing under this Labor government. We're seeing a Labor government who, for example, with the sitting schedule, promised family-friendly hours. Now, I'm happy to sit here each night until midnight. My family is not here in Canberra. For many senators here—most senators—their families are not here in Canberra. Labor promised family-friendly hours. But, under the sitting schedule, they've made it harder for senators from states like WA, where my colleague Senator O'Sullivan comes from, to actually get home and see their families on weekends. Labor have extended the sitting hours. They continue to extend the sitting hours. On this side of the chamber we don't have a problem with trying to assist the government in achieving its legislative program, but we do have a problem with the hypocrisy of a Labor Party who come into this chamber and talk about transparency and accountability yet do anything but be transparent and accountable.

I wonder, is this reluctance to hold four weeks of estimates in calendar year 2023 something to do with secrets, something to do with, I don't know, dodgy deals? Is there something that the Labor government don't want us to ask questions about? Looking at the estimates over the last couple of weeks, we've found out, for example, through looking at the budget papers and through asking questions of officials at the table, that at that jobsfest, that talkfest that was masquerading as a jobsfest, this Labor government spent $7,000 on a band. Now, fair play to the band. We all love live music—brilliant. But the government spent $7,000 on a band for an official function. Is that a good use of taxpayer money? Taxpayers paid for this. We found that out through the estimates process.

Is it because the government does not wish us to prosecute and ask questions about energy policy in Australia?—remembering that this Labor government, this Labor Prime Minister, promised 97 times before the election that they will reduce power bills by $275. Yet in their budget papers we were able to find out that actually power bills are going to go up by 56 per cent. So, what this government is doing is deliberately limiting the ability of non-government senators to ask questions of ministers as to policies and to ask questions of officials as to how public money is being expended.

This is about accountability. It is about standing up for the rights of taxpayers who fund the government of Australia and asking on behalf of taxpayers where that money is being spent and whether that money is being spent appropriately. We find out from this Labor Party that they are scared of transparency and accountability. No matter the words that come out of them, they all want to go and hide under the doona because they do not like being held to account.