Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

That's exactly what this motion is about; it's actually about transparency. This is a government that, when they were in opposition, loved to lecture the then government on transparency and loved to tell the Australian people that, if they were given the privilege of governing this country, there would be a new level of transparency in Australia. The Australian people, quite frankly, need to understand that there is a whole new level of transparency in this country, but it is now known as 'secrecy'.

I don't think that there has been any time in Australia's history where a government has literally run a closed shop when it comes to democracy. Democracy is about robust debate. Democracy is about answering to the Australian people. It does not matter what portfolio you talk about, this is a government that runs a closed shop. In fact, it has been put to me time and time again, both the Australian Senate and the House of Representatives may as well now be shop floors. In other words, you close down debate, you silence people because that's the way the Albanese government runs Australia.

Stakeholder after stakeholder after stakeholder across portfolio and portfolio and portfolio, they have to sign, under this government, non-disclosure agreements. Again, the Australian people had better start to understand what is a non-disclosure agreement. It means that if you are going to consult with this government on something that affects you, you either sign a non-disclosure agreement and shut up—in other words, you don't get to breathe a word of it, let alone raise any criticisms—or you don't sign a nondisclosure agreement, and guess what happens to you then? You are blacklisted and you are shown the door. Again, the Australian people had better start to wake up and understand democracy is being eroded by the Albanese government, and today's motion is just another example.

Let's put it into context. It's a motion in relation to Cbus. It's a motion in relation to the production of some documents. It's a motion in relation to the failure of the Treasurer of Australia to respond to an order of the Senate. It's a motion that responds to the fact that Senator Bragg, 18 months later, was actually able to get these documents through the freedom of information process—not run by the Albanese government. But let's put it into context, because you've got a protection racket being run here by the Treasurer of Australia and the Albanese government. Cbus chairman is former Labor Treasurer of Australia Wayne Swan—wow! You have to be kidding me! If that doesn't say 'protection racket' under the Albanese government, quite frankly I no longer know what does. Cbus chairman, Wayne Swan, 'paid the CFMEU $1.25 million in the 2022-23 financial year'. Don't take that from me, as it's:

… according to disclosures super funds were recently forced to make for the first time.

Again, the Australian people need to understand that in the two-and-a-bit years that Mr Albanese has been in government—to say that they have been hoodwinked, to say that they have had the wool pulled over their eyes is an understatement. I've got no problems that the Labor Party and the Greens have the numbers in this place. That's life. But what I do have a problem with is this: the secrecy; the lack of transparency; the lack of accountability; the silencing of stakeholders by making them sign non-disclosure agreements, telling them they cannot breathe a word of criticism against this government and, if they do, they are silenced.

Stakeholders make representations on behalf of the Australian people, and this motion is another example of how democracy is being eroded in this country. The Australian people, quite frankly, are being silenced and they don't even know it.