Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The ANAO found that the Department of Home Affairs's so-called management of the procurement of garrison support and welfare in fact was full of bungles. The department did not document their reasons for requesting quotations from Paladin. They did not appropriately benchmark costs for similar services. A probity management framework was not effectively applied in all instances. Conflicts of interest existed but they were not acknowledged nor managed. There was no performance monitoring or performance requirements, for an average of more than eight months, during the relevant time.

Paladin—the mysterious and entirely inexperienced company that was handpicked by none other than Mr Peter Dutton to run the Manus Island detention centre and awarded a $½ billion contract to boot—has been dogged by controversy. The ANAO has now found that the Department of Home Affairs has failed to document its reasons for selecting them, has failed to demonstrate value for money, has failed to apply probity measures and has failed to manage conflicts of interest. Australians deserve better.

It's no wonder that eyebrows were raised when this little-known company, which is registered to a beach shack on Kangaroo Island but has a PO box in Singapore, was awarded a 22-month government contract worth $423 million. It's no wonder that questions were asked when we learnt that the contract was awarded through a closed tender, meaning no-one else was invited to bid. This smells incredibly fishy to me, as it did to the ANAO.

Isn't it a shame that we don't have a national anticorruption watchdog to hold decision-makers to account? This is precisely why the Greens have had private members' legislation on that matter since 2010. It passed this chamber late last year and has been lying, ignored by the Morrison government, in the House. It is long past time for this government to stop making excuses for its lack of integrity and to bring on either its own version or my version of national anticorruption watchdog commission legislation. The Australian public are sick of the corruption, the favours for mates and the big donations that lead to policy outcomes that benefit vested interests. They want a national anticorruption body.

The federal government is the only jurisdiction that does not have one, and reports like this one today from the ANAO will, sadly, I fear, fall on ears that are blocked. We have seen many ANAO reports—they do an excellent job—but they are ignored. This government can no longer ignore the need for a federal anticorruption watchdog with teeth. It's just appalling that it has used a global pandemic as the latest excuse for delaying bringing in this incredibly important anticorruption measure.

We will not let up. I know members of the House of Representatives are also very interested in this matter, so watch this space. We are standing here imploring the government to finally get on with the job. Bring on your own bill and fix it up—it's too weak—or bring on my bill for a vote. The Senate passed that legislation. It wants a strong anticorruption watchdog with teeth, and this is yet another example of why one is necessary.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion that the Senate take note of the performance audit report of the Australian National Audit Office on the procurement of garrison support and welfare services by the Department of Home Affairs. This is simply the latest in a series of scathing audits conducted by ANAO into the Department of Home Affairs' management of Australia's shameful offshore detention policy. This audit has found that a probity management framework was not effectively applied in all instances, and it also found that a conflict of interest existed that was not acknowledged or managed.

It is coming up to seven years since the Labor government under former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd created the latest version of racist offshore detention policy in this country. It is seven years and counting. We have had multiple deaths. We have had hundreds and, potentially, thousands of lives destroyed. We have had families ripped apart, and there are still families separated because of this policy. We have seen children with resignation syndrome. They have simply withdrawn from life; they fail to eat, drink or get out of bed. This massive psychological trauma has been perpetrated on innocent children because of this calamitous and racist policy.

I've been to Manus Island many times. I've seen firsthand how this policy has destroyed the lives of innocent people who did nothing other than stretch out a hand and ask our country to help them, in line with what we said we would do when we signed the protocol to the refugee convention. There are still people in Papua New Guinea and there are still people on Nauru. There are people who spent the best part of six or 6½ years of their lives imprisoned in exile in Papua New Guinea or Nauru who are now here in Australia. They were brought here under the medevac legislation and they are still detained here in Australia, either in immigration detention centres or in what the home affairs department euphemistically calls 'alternative places of detention'. It is simply not acceptable.

I say to the government that now is the time to accept the kind and generous offer made by New Zealand to resettle some of these people who have suffered so much at the hands of our government. There is a solution available. It is only the stubbornness of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his colleague the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Dutton, that is preventing a solution to this crisis. I urge the government to act. I urge the government to accept the offer which has been made by New Zealand and which New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern has repeatedly stated is still on the table. This is a dark, shameful and bloody chapter in Australia's national story. One day there will be a royal commission into immigration detention, including offshore detention, and those responsible will be held to account. There have been crimes against humanity committed by the Australian government. They have destroyed far too many lives. It is time for this chapter to end. It is time for this calamitous and shameful chapter in our country's history to be drawn to a close. The way the government could do that is by simply accepting the kind and generous offer that the New Zealand government has made.

Question agreed to.