Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What this government has demonstrated through their behaviour is that they are on a track that is immovable. By their actions, they are demonstrating that they are not prepared be accountable and transparent. Yet we all heard time and time again in the lead-up to the last election that there was going to be this new standard. Well, that's exactly right. We do have a new standard. We have set a very retrograde standard here in this place with the way that the government is operating with their complete disregard for the Senate and, as Senator McGrath was saying, by extension their complete disregard for the Australian people. It is appalling that they are not committing themselves to the transparency that they said that they would provide.

As I said, it is more than just a pattern, because we're seeing it time and time again. How they behave is railed in. For example, they require any stakeholders that they're engaging with in relation to bills that are prospective and coming before the parliament to sign non-disclosure agreements. We've seen this with the car industry in relation to their fuel efficiency standards. They are making stakeholders sign up to agreements. They're requiring them not to speak publicly. If they do, guess what. You're not going to be invited the very next meeting. They only bring into the room those that are maybe going to speak up and speak the way that they want them to speak. This is the behaviour of this government. We've seen it with the ALRC report. We've seen it with the consultation on the potential future religious discrimination bill. They'll only engage with those that are prepared to keep silent and not engage their wider constituency. This is atrocious. It is not the transparency and accountability that was promised by this government. The Prime and Minister, as leader of the Labor Party, as the leader of our nation in the political atmosphere that we have, is letting the Australian people down.

Here we have a simple request by the Senate for a document. It is not that it be released publicly; we understand that there are often national security implications, particularly in relation to the listing of an organisation. The IRGC is a terrorist organisation, so of course there might be some national security implications. But we are the Senate. This was not just a couple of backbenchers or a couple of members of parliament. This Senate ordered that the government provide those documents to the PJCIS, a committee of this parliament that is bound by confidentiality and that meets in private—in fact, in a secure room in this building. Great measures are taken to ensure that documents that maybe sensitive, as have been requested here, are presented in a safe manner and are able to be dealt with appropriately. That committee is a committee of multiple members of parliament from multiple parties and it provides the transparency that is necessary.

Again this government is proving that they are not submitting themselves to the accountability that is necessary. They made a commitment before the last election that there would be the accountability and that there would be a new standard. Well, we have seen a new standard. We have seen a lowered standard in this place when it comes to transparency and accountability, and this Prime Minister is shown wanting, time and time again. (Time expired)