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

I also take note of the minister's explanation. Just so the Australian people realise the smokescreen that's going on here this morning, which is absolutely disgusting in itself, this is not about super and it's not about housing. This is about being honest with the Australian people and about integrity. It's about integrity and transparency. That is what this is about this morning.

This issue is about a minister that was called to the chamber to explain why Senator Bragg was refused access to information he sought using the Senate's OPD powers. This is what this is about. So forget the smokescreen. The sprinklers are finished. The smoke's gone. There is no more smokescreen. That's what this is about. And yet, Mr Bragg—as Mr Bragg, not as Senator Bragg—was granted access to the same information under FOI. This is what this is about, because this should have been made transparent and it wasn't, and good on Senator Bragg for drawing this issue to the Senate's attention.

All senators should be worried about what has happened here—all of you. While our primary role is to review and pass laws, it is also our job to hold the government of the day to account on behalf of the people out there. We sit here on behalf of citizens in all states, and it is our duty to make sure the government is performing its job efficiently, effectively, with transparency and with integrity. That's all we ask in the best interests of the people outside this chamber. But we can't do that without access to information. The Labor Party went to the last election—you remember, you voters for the Labor Party—on a promise of greater transparency. Have a good look, Australians. How has that been going for over two years? Has there been greater transparency? I don't think so. That was extremely misleading, and you wonder why those people out there don't trust us in here.

Here's the deal. What just happened to Senator Bragg is not new to this Senate, is it? I can remember the same thing happening to former senator Rex Patrick in the last parliament. He would regularly get access to documents under FOI that he couldn't get using the Senate's powers. So this is not just a Labor thing. It's not just a Labor thing, and you haven't done any better with your transparency. The Albanese government is doing exactly the same in the Senate as the Morrison government did in the 46th parliament. That's what is going on here. This is just the major party protection racket at work, and we've had enough of it. I can assure you that when they get elected, all they do is wrap a secrecy cloak around themselves. That's what they do up here, and that's not what we're here for. It's just a continual Groundhog Day.

We have the numbers to change the way that things work—for example, to adopt the process used in the New South Wales Legislative Council which involves the use of an independent arbiter when there is a disagreement between the executive and the Legislative Council. This process was actually considered by the Legal and Constitutional Committee in 2013-14, after Senator Cash refused to provide documents to the Senate in response to an OPD. The committee referred the matter to the Procedure Committee, which came to the conclusion based on a submission by then Leader of the Government in the Senate Senator Abetz—of all people—not to adopt the New South Wales practice. He also didn't want to be transparent. He said in his submission: 'An arbitration process can succeed only if it is mutually accepted by all parties and only if it includes making the disputed information available to the arbiter. Absent these two preconditions and it is unenforceable in practice.' There you have it. Even though we have the numbers today to introduce a better system to allow us to perform our constitutional functions properly in here, we won't get a better system until the major parties both agree, and this isn't going to happen because both major parties consider themselves parties of government. Neither of them wants government to be held to account properly.

This is what's going on in this place, and you wonder why your votes are getting fewer and people do not trust you. You promised this in the last election. The Labor Party promised to be more transparent, and you have failed miserably. Let's be honest, you have failed miserably. In the meantime, Senator Bragg will just have to put up with the government advancing not proper public interest immunities but dodgy political interest immunities because that's all that's going on in here today. Just so the Australian people realise, we could change this. We could do this today. We could use the New South Wales way, but, no, both the major parties in here don't want to mention that. I wonder if I brought that bill up here, I could get it done just like that. Maybe that's a way to put both in a corner, because, quite frankly, it's all about transparency.