David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Ayres and Senator Shoebridge for their contribution. It is disappointing that there is no contribution from the coalition on what is a very important issue. It is not acceptable that there is so little transparency, that there are 2,000 people about which Australians have no idea who they are or what they're doing in Parliament House. I used the US example earlier just to highlight how far behind we are. You would assume that our lobbying code of conduct is better than the US, but it's not. We have such a long way to go.

We have an incredible democracy, and yet we have major parties who are comfortable with a system that works for them. They're comfortable with a system that produces this revolving door of staffers and politicians picking up the plum jobs in the private sector, working as lobbyists, working as government relations people, and this needs to change. There is an expectation from Australians that we work for them, because we do. The only power we have here in the Senate is through the people in our states and territories who elected us. How can we say to them that they do not deserve to know who we're signing into this building, who we're giving access-all-areas, 24-hour passes to? It's indefensible, and it's no wonder that we just hear silence from the major parties. We have the minister giving a statement but nothing from the coalition. We must do better.

I'm new in this place. I have learnt a great deal over the last year, and the number of people who have access to this building has shocked me. It is a good thing that Australians can make representations, that they can access policy experts, and I believe the sponsored pass system is also a very good thing: you can give people access on your behalf to get into the building, to just swipe, not to have to sign in—but Australians deserve to know who those people are. It's not good enough. We have to do better as a parliament. To simply say that this is something that I'm wrongly saying the executive should do! I'm saying that the parliament should fix this. We should all fix this. We should all care about this. Sure, ministers may have to wait a few years before they pick up that plum lobbying job, but this is in the interests of all of us: This is in the interests of Australians, of our democracy and our future, and we're currently failing Australians when it comes to lobbying. We are failing them.

You can't tell me that you can, hand on heart, look at Australians and say that there is enough transparency when you have 2,000 people accessing this building and nobody knows who they are. One parliamentarian has 55 people signed in under their name—swipe and go. Come up to security. Swipe your name. You're in. No-one knows who you are. You could be lobbying for any company. Just pointing to a third party lobbyist register is not good enough. We can do better. I would urge my fellow senators and those in the other place to think about this. I know that there are people in the major parties, good people, who are concerned about this. Don't stand by because it works for your ministers to be able to pick up a plum job at the end of the day and it works for your staff to go in and out of the private sector and lobbying firms whenever there's a change of government.

We've got to get serious about this. Our democracy is at stake if we keep taking it for granted. There are companies and industries that have figured the system out. They are working the system. They are wielding their power, and it's on all of us to ensure that this system is as transparent as possible so that we can have trust in government decisions; so that we know that, when the government make decisions, those decisions are being made with good advice; and so that we know who is accessing the government and making representations. You simply can't tell me that $1.5 billion to something like Middle Arm comes about without intense lobbying and access from vested interests. Australians are waking up to this. They're saying, 'We want better.' I would urge and invite fellow senators to join me in changing this system and saying that we can do better and we will do better.