Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would genuinely like to thank Senator Scarr for the opportunity to talk about transparency. 'Transparency' is a word that no-one would use to describe those opposite, the previous government. It is absolutely laughable that the opposition even thinks about bringing a motion into this chamber with the word 'transparency' printed in it. Whether it was sports rorts, car park rorts, overpriced land rorts or overpriced water buybacks, or whether they were hiding behind whiteboards or manufacturing colour coded spreadsheets, those opposite have absolutely zero authority to come into this chamber with a motion about transparency. These are the people who had a prime minister who, we know—now we know!—secretly appointed himself Minister for Health; Minister for Finance; Minister for Industry, Science, Energy and Resources; and Minister for Home Affairs. And, of course, he appointed himself Treasurer as well, just to round it off! How is that for transparency? How's that on the transparency index of those opposite?

We are still uncovering the dodgy dealings, the rorts and the cover-ups of the Liberals' time in government. Only this month did the National Audit Office find that the Morrison government deliberately breached federal grant rules in administering the $2 billion Community Health and Hospitals Program. The audit found that the funds were used in a way that failed ethical standards and also exceeded legal authority, using taxpayer dollars as if they were Liberal Party dollars, yet again.

Our government is still cleaning up the mess that has been left by those opposite. After more than a year in government, we are in fact still answering questions that were placed on notice and are outstanding from the previous government. That is their record on accountability to this chamber. For our part, a total of 6,733 questions were asked on notice to this government, the current government, following the supplementary budget estimates hearings in February, and we have already answered all but 11 of those. That is 6,722 questions answered. For those playing along at home, that's 99.8 per cent of questions answered. I'm pretty happy to stake my reputation and say that this is a much better compliance rate than that ever achieved by the Morrison government.

We are delivering a higher standard of integrity, a higher standard of transparency and a higher standard of accountability in government. We are upholding a standard that the opposition never even got close to, never even got into the room with and never even imagined getting close to. We are the government who have legislated a powerful, transparent and independent National Anti-Corruption Commission, which will commence operation in July this year. The former government's proposed integrity commission—everyone will remember—was so weak it wouldn't have been able to commence its own independent inquiries, and it was never even introduced into the parliament. The model was described by legal experts as a body not designed to stamp out corruption but to help cover it up—to help cover it up!

Now, for the first time in a decade, in Transparency International's corruption perceptions index Australia's ranking has risen to 13th, and I reckon we can do better than that. Under the Liberals, Australia's rank fell 11 places to 18th—the worst result of any OECD country and the worst result in our nation's history. Transparency International directly attributes Australia's dramatically improved ranking to our government's landmark National Anti-Corruption Commission. We are being accountable at Senate estimates as well. During the budget estimates referred to in Senator Scarr's MPI, question after question was asked and answered—questions about our budget, a budget that is delivering for the Australian people. It was scrutinised. There were over 100 hours of questions across eight different committees. We are proud of our record of transparency and we stand by it. (Time expired)