Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter once again to make a few points of principle which I think are incredibly important. For those who are listening to this debate for the first time, what the Senate is discussing is an order for the production of documents, which a majority of the senators in this place passed more than 12 months ago, calling upon the minister to provide key documents relating to the financial sustainability of the NDIS program. A majority of this Senate sought those documents before we debated perhaps the most significant legislative reform of the NDIS system in this country's history since the system was introduced. A majority of senators in this place were seeking key financial and technical information in relation to this important reform before it was debated here, and the minister—the government—has refused to provide that information. That is deeply troubling.

The second point I'd like to make in relation to this matter is the ground on which public interest immunity is being asserted. One of the grounds is that, if these documents were produced, it may prejudice the relationship between the federal government and our state governments. In theory, that is a proper ground. But, in everything the minister has said, not once would you have heard him say that the federal government has actually consulted with the state governments to see if they have any objection.

In my view, if the federal government is going to use the public interest immunity ground on the basis that it may compromise relationships between the federal and state governments, at the very least, before asserting that ground, the federal government should actually consult the state governments and see if they mind the information being produced to the Senate—to those who are charged by the people of those states with the responsibility of engaging in debate in relation to these very serious matters of public policy. But over the last 12 months that this matter has been prosecuted we haven't had any indication that I can recollect from the minister that there has been any consultation with the states to see if they object to this information being proposed.

I think, for the time in which all of us are in this place, we have a responsibility to act as custodians of this institution. That is one of the reasons why I keep speaking on this resolution. There's an important point of principle here. A majority of senators in this place, for bona fide, good-faith reasons, sought this information to inform debate in relation to the NDIS, and the government has denied the will of those senators. That is deeply, deeply troubling.

Question agreed to.