Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on Senator Lambie's MPI about the damage the Albanese government has done by advancing legislation with regard to the integrity of the political process. We can talk about legislation, but we can also talk about the way we go about business in the chamber. I think there has got to be serious consideration and a bit of foresight. This fortnight is going to be very good example. I fear we are going to have a lot of important legislation guillotined at the end of next week, and we aren't going to get an opportunity to speak on the bill or ask questions in the committee stage. That's very important to do. If we and the public want to have a better understanding of the meaning and impact of these bills, it's important that we have an opportunity to put questions to the minister in a more informal process than question time.

We could also cut some of these things that go on throughout the week—even this MPI. We do two lots of MPIs, but maybe we could do one set of MPIs throughout the day, or none at all. We have take note of answers to questions, which is basically bickering between the two major parties. Even question time most of the time, like today, is a waste of time, with people shouting over the top of each other. We really need to look at ways to stay focused on the legislation at hand and actually ask serious questions about the legislation at hand.

I want to support Senator David Pocock's comments about whistleblower protections. I did speak about it last night. The case of Richard Boyle, who raised the issue of the ATO and how they were being heavy handed on small business, beggars belief when you compare with the double taxation arrangement we have with Ireland that hasn't been updated since 1983. Perhaps time would be better spent by the ATO and Treasury if they focused on looking at tax loopholes in these double taxation arrangements. I'll repeat the numbers for those of you who haven't heard them by now. Withholding tax on royalties to Ireland is 10c, company tax in Ireland is 12½c, and 10 plus 12½ is less than 30, so you have a 7½c arbitrage on every dollar that goes offshore. There are businesses in this country that are lucky to make a margin of 7½c, and yet we've got this screaming tax loophole that you could drive a truck through, and Treasury and the tax office aren't doing anything about that, but they're going after someone who was acting in good faith, Richard Boyle.

We do need greater whistleblower protections; indeed I said last night here in the chamber that that is going to be one of People First's key policies for holding the establishment to account. I'm sick and tired of it. I often come in here and criticise the bureaucratic departments, but, to be fair, there are good people in those departments who try to speak up, or would like to speak up, but live in fear of actually losing their jobs. Indeed, I know whistleblowers who have lost their jobs because they spoke up. One in particular, who worked for Home Affairs, came to me about the fact that one of his roles was to censor posts throughout COVID.

The other thing is that these electoral reforms are coming up. If you want to cap the big end of town in terms of donations, I think it's only fair that you allow minor parties to get electoral funding for the votes that they receive. The four per cent cut-off at the moment, I think, is entirely unfair to minor parties, because sooner or later, if you do want to break the monopoly of the two major parties, you've got to start as a small party, and denying them funding whilst also denying them access to the big end of town is not fair. So I have serious concerns over what may be proposed there as well. I look forward to the opportunity to actually discuss that particular bill if it comes up in the next fortnight and also to ask questions in the committee stage about that. I support this matter of public importance, and I would have liked to vote on it.