Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

"The need for the Australian Government to adhere to principles of transparency and accountability for good government instead of ignoring them"

I rise to speak to the need for the Australian government to adhere to the principles of transparency and accountability for good government, instead of ignoring them. I will say the last bit again: instead of ignoring them. When I'm out there with my boots on the ground, the thing people say to me the most is that they don't trust politicians. They don't trust them do the right thing. They don't trust them to choose the needs of the Australian people over their own, and they don't trust them to choose people over politics.

Polling done By the Australian Institute late last year found that three out of five Australians elected politicians, party officials and candidates were found to be the second-biggest threat to our democracy. Three out of five—isn't that just plain awful? We should be ashamed of ourselves. I know that I give a lot of my colleagues in this place a hard time, but I would also say that there are many politicians who are here for the right reasons. They believe in our democracy, and they believe in fighting for what is best for their communities. The problem is not them. The problem is the lack of transparency in our political system, especially when it comes to the major parties. Despite the Prime Minister's promise to lead a government with integrity and transparency, Australians are yet to really see that. Yes, we have a national anti-corruption commission, but that simply is not enough. We need real action on transparency, but I think it's clear that the last thing this government wants is transparency.

I brought a motion to the Senate last year asking for the Prime Minister's diary to be published. The Prime Minister's office has resisted multiple freedom of information requests to disclose his diary. Time after time, these requests have been refused. His office claims that seeing that PM's diary would divert the office away from its usual important tasks. What a load of absolute rubbish! The Premier of Queensland, the Chief Minister of the ACT and even the President of the United States all proactively publish their diaries, and I would suggest that the President of the United States has quite a few more important tasks before him.

Transparency and accountability are key principles of good government. They are what makes a country great and its democracy strong. According to the Prime Minister, we're about 18 months from the next federal election, and this government and this Prime Minister are running out of time to show the Australian people that they really believe in transparency and integrity. The last election saw a fall in the primary vote for the major parties. Australians voted in unprecedented numbers for Independents and micros. Many of those elected ran on a platform of integrity and greater transparency in our politics. This clearly scares the bejesus out of both major parties, and so it should. This government is working hard behind the scenes to lock down the system that worked so well for them. They are planning to change our electoral laws, and they are saying lots of reassuring things about putting donation caps on campaigns, which sounds good but, when Victoria did it, it wiped out Independent candidates. It's as simple as that.

The government is also talking about upping public funding. That is the amount the candidate receives for each vote that they get. It's your—taxpayers'—money. This was introduced by the Labor government and was meant as insurance against the possibility of corruption, but increasing the public funding will mean that major parties will run their candidates in electorates that they know they can't possibly win, but they will get enough votes to get the public funding so that they can spend more on the next election and the one after that. What this government is not talking about is doing anything about the transparency of the amount of cash that is funnelled through their entities. I think most Australians would understand the term 'money-laundering'. It's when you take dirty money obtained through crime and spend it in a legitimate business to 'clean' the money. That's basically what these political entities are; they are to funnel cash from big donors to candidates. It's basically electoral money-laundering. Both major parties have these entities. They are like shelf companies that are set up to hold events, take donations and funnel them back through the campaigns. There is no transparency on these entities and this government could do something about that right now.

This government and this Prime Minister could be bold and put real transparency measures into parliament and into our electoral system, but they probably won't because, despite what the Prime Minister says and what his government says, they don't want transparency. If they did, they would clean up the electoral funding system, get rid of those money-laundering entities and publish the Prime Minister's diary. Instead they just keep telling Australians, 'It's all fine—nothing to see here.' Australians are smarter than that. They see what you're doing and they see your lack of action. That's why I believe they will keep voting for Independents and microparties in record numbers, but you can wear that at the next election. Once Independents and micros have the balance of power in both houses, Australia will finally get, I can assure you, the integrity and transparency they deserve, and we will lead by example, unlike the government of today.