David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the explanation.

I thank Minister Wong for her explanation on behalf of the Prime Minister. It is not the first time Minister Wong has had to come into this place and make explanations for the Prime Minister. I'm pretty disappointed by the explanation simply saying that it was out of scope, because my OPD asked for all records of interaction with the AFL and NRL. The PMO is trying to say that 'records of interaction' don't mean what's in the diary. 'Records of interaction' is the definition of what you put in a diary. A diary is by definition a record of interactions, so I simply do not buy it. I don't buy it, and I think that it is disrespectful to the Senate.

It's not the first time where we've seen the Senate say that you need to produce these documents, things are withheld, then we have an FOI and things are released. I'd urge the government to actually live up to some of the things that they said in opposition about the need for more transparency in government. If the Senate asks for these documents, if the Senate asks for the records of interactions with the AFL and the NRL, why does PMO think that it can withhold things and say, 'Well, you didn't ask for the Prime Minister's diary'? It makes no sense to me. And I don't think it's up to scratch.

It's no wonder that, when it does come to the release of ministerial diaries, the major parties don't want to do it. This—transparency in seeing who ministers are meeting with—should be a standard part of our democracy. It doesn't have to be in real time; it can be a few months after the fact. But this doesn't cut it.