Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is the time at which Mr Taylor's representatives were ordered by the Senate to table a copy of the City of Sydney annual report and any documents supporting the claim that he made in his false documents that were doctored. I was advised that the government would be tabling something. It's 12.45, and there's nothing yet. On that basis I will proceed. If the minister here is able to tell us that they're going to table something that actually supports Mr Taylor's claim, I will seek leave at that point to make further remarks.

I would make this point: this motion was a test for the government, and it has failed that test. It was a motion that required the government to table any evidence it had to support Mr Taylor's repeated claims that he didn't doctor a document to attack his political opponent. This is a scandal that started with a dodgy trick by a mediocre minister, and it's ended with the integrity of the entire government in tatters.

Today Mr Taylor had a chance to come clean. He had a chance to clear his name. He had a chance to put this to bed and get on with governing, but guess what he's done? He's refused. Mr Taylor has labelled this fiasco 'a grubby smear'. If that were true he'd be able to prove it, but he refuses to put forward any evidence to clear his name. The only reason you would choose not to clear your name is that you can't, because you have done exactly what you have been accused of, because you have been caught red-handed.

On 23 October this year Angus Taylor used a forged document in a botched political hit job. He took a swing at a local mayor and instead gave himself an uppercut. Mr Taylor used false travel figures in official ministerial correspondence to the Lord Mayor of Sydney, which was provided to The Daily Telegraph, and he claimed—and still inexplicably claims—that the document containing the doctored figures came from the City of Sydney's website. He has claimed this over and over again in the parliament—six times, to be precise—but he has got no proof to back it up, not a skerrick of evidence, and today he has refused to provide any.

In fact, all the evidence to date is that the document with the fake travel figures was never on the City of Sydney website. Metadata from the City of Sydney proves that the annual report hasn't been changed since it was published in November last year, and the public internet archives of the website clearly show that the annual reports published on the website on 27 March, 20 April, 19 June and 24 October this year contained the correct travel figures. But, somehow, Mr Taylor still expects the Australian public to believe that the website said something different when his office looked at it. His version of events is not believable—and Senator McGrath knows it.

Those opposite could have provided any evidence to support Mr Taylor's claims, but they refuse to do so. Do you know why they refuse? Because his deception has been like a web into which more and more ministers are drawn. The Prime Minister, by interfering in the New South Wales police strike force investigation, is now complicit in Minister Taylor's dishonesty and deception. The entire government is so deep in this fiasco that everyone on that side of the chamber is now complicit in the dishonesty and deception. This lack of integrity is not only an attribute of Mr Taylor's; it is becoming the defining trait of this entire government.

The minister refuses to explain exactly what occurred here, refuses to outline his personal involvement in a botched political hit, refuses to name the staff who are complicit and refuses to tell the truth to the parliament. His behaviour has, frankly, been appalling. By his behaviour, Mr Taylor demonstrates he is unfit for the office he holds. He isn't fit to be a minister of the Crown. Deliberately misleading the parliament is a contempt of the parliament and a breach of ministerial standards. But, most importantly, his behaviour is below that which the public expect from cabinet ministers. It is the worst of politics: petty, dishonest and incompetent. Any serious government—any credible government—would be worried that this scandal would be distracting from their policies and their agenda. But this government has no integrity, and Mr Taylor is the poster boy for a government that has no integrity.

What Australians have is a discredited government protecting a disgraced minister. He failed a test today. He was given the opportunity by this Senate—in fact, he was required by this Senate—to provide any shred of evidence to back up his version of events, and he provided none. His version is not believable. He has no credibility. He has no integrity. He should no longer be a minister.