David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We're here because, once again, Defence has failed to provide anything like transparency. Indeed, one of the reasons why Senator Lambie has moved this motion—which was about to be supported by every other party in this chamber apart from the government—is Defence and this government have form, and the previous government had form as well. Time and time again, even in budget estimates, we're asking for basic information and basic transparency. The existence of the director-general is a reason given to refuse to provide answers. We ask for basic information about defence tragedies and defence accidents such as the crash of a Taipan helicopter in Jervis Bay last year.

We've been asking for transparency on that for a year and a half, and the answer we repeatedly get from the government is, 'We're not going to tell you, because this is off to inquiry with the Inspector-General.' The Inspector-General, of course, comes from the Defence Force and is seen to be very culturally attuned to them. Nobody below a one-star rank in the Defence Force genuinely believes that it provides the independent oversight that was promised. It was set up as an administrative office by a former CDF and from that moment on was treated with suspicion by those who wanted transparency in the space. We can't understand why the government won't introduce it immediately. We can't understand why they won't provide it to veterans. We can't understand why the government last week did what it did in trying to muddy the waters for the veterans royal commission. We can't understand their approach to ignoring the demands for veterans, and we will be supporting this motion unamended.