Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every member of parliament gets the toughest job interview there is. Those people up there—the press, the journalists—put a microscope on our lives. They go through everything we've ever said or done. If you're running for a party, you get your background checked, and you get a police check. When we are campaigning, Australians come and ask us anything. And then, of course, we get the ultimate tick—people vote for us.

But it doesn't work like that for a lot of senior government appointed positions. The Commonwealth Ombudsman, for example, has no criteria for getting the job. For Federal Court judges—Geez, you lawyers are lucky!—you only need five years experience to get the gig. How about that, hey? Then there are senior Public Servants, who can stuff up on a grand scale with no consequences. Remember Kathryn Campbell? I'm sure there are a lot of people who haven't forgotten her. For many roles there is no requirement for specific skills, qualifications or experience to get the job. Kathryn Campbell was just moved sideways into another gig, on big money.

In the last sitting I was approached by Independent MP Allegra Spender. She had been trying to get up a motion—we call it a production of documents—that asked the government to produce documents on departmental and agency officials or appointments. Of course, she got no support from the red team or the blue team in the other place. That often happens up here because the government has the numbers in the House. But it doesn't get that opportunity in the Senate. Ms Spender brought the motion to my office to see if we could get it done through the Senate. We had strong support from the Senate crossbench, and we talked to the blue team for weeks to see if we could get support. We did what they asked, but when it came down to it, they still wouldn't support it. Do you know why? I will tell you why. It's because Liberal and Labor always team up when it comes to protecting themselves from public scrutiny.

Of course, not all documents can be released. Sometimes there are national security reasons or there are ongoing legal cases that the documents may affect. I get that, but I can assure you that they are very few. But handing out jobs to your mates, often without an open tender process or even that job being advertised, is just plain politically wrong. One of the Senate's most powerful and important tools is our ability to order the production of government documents so we can see the bits of paper that are informing the government's decisions.

When the Albanese government were elected they promised greater transparency. As a matter of fact, they sold an election on that, because apparently you guys over here in the opposition had none. Under this government, more than 2,000 requests for answers have been made by senators. How many do you guess remain unanswered? The Centre for Public Integrity found that Senate document production compliance rates—that means how many times the government has handed over documents—has fallen from 92 per cent to 20 per cent. My God! I thought it was bad enough for nine years under the coalition. You guys in the government have dropped 72 per cent in just over 12 months. You're kidding, right? But you sold an election on transparency. You lied you to the Australian people. You lied to them.

Australians, do you know why there are so many requests for the production of documents? It's because the freedom of information system is broken. It is completely broken. Last week, the former freedom of information commissioner told the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee that his attempts to clear the backlog of freedom of information, or FOI, requests were 'deliberately frustrated'. Transparency and accountability are key principles of good government. They are what makes a country great.

Late last year, the Prime Minister said:

We have established a National Anti-Corruption Commission because restoring integrity and trust to our politics is essential if we are to maintain the health of our democracy …

Well, isn't that democracy sick. It's great that we have the NACC, but it's not enough and it can't be used as an excuse not to do more. In May, Sophie Scamp MP, another new Independent who campaigned on integrity, brought the 'Ending jobs for mates bill' to the lower house. This legislation laid out a plan for an independent watchdog for all major government appointed positions. I bet you can't guess what happened to that. Come on, Australians, have a shot. It got voted down, of course. It got voted down by both major political parties because they obviously don't believe in transparency.

Australian politics has a long and sorry history of jobs for their mates, and according to a report released last year by the Grattan Institute, it's only getting worse. The government are the team that promised you integrity and transparency at the last election. Have another look at them. Remember when ex-New South Wales Nationals leader John Barilaro was offered a plum half-a-million dollar job as a trade envoy, even though a much more qualified woman had already been tipped for the role? The New South Wales ICAC found this was not technically corrupt; that's correct. That's because it is politically corrupt and they know it, and that is a problem. Giving a mate a job isn't necessarily corrupt but it is politically corrupt. But I don't think it is what Australians expect from their elected representatives. It means we don't get the best decisions for the country. We don't even get close; there's part of your problem.

The Grattan report showed many federal and state government boards, tribunals and agencies are stacked with people who have worked in politics, who have mates in this place—almost always the party that was in government when they got the job. According to the Grattan 2022 report, 21 per cent of government board positions are political appointments. A good recent example is the scrapping of the Administration Appeals Tribunal. Australia's current Attorney-General was so appalled at what he called the previous Liberal government's 'disgraceful exhibition of cronyism' that he scrapped it. The AAT was the independent expert body that reviewed government decisions on everything from child support to immigration status. If you did get appointed to the AAT you would earn anything from $200,000 to half a million bucks a year—nice pay-out. Political appointments to the AAT grew substantially under the Morrison government; they were stacking them in. Then there was a massive spike in appointments just before the 2022 election. That's how it started—jobs for mates. Do you know why that is, Australians? It was because they had a whiff they were going down the gurgler and they wanted to hand out as many gigs to their mates as they possibly could, hoping they would get favours in return when they got booted out. That's how it works up here.

We've been hearing a lot about Qantas over the last few weeks; our much-loved flying kangaroo doesn't seem so loved any more. The coalition are piling on the government to reveal what meetings happened between Qantas and the government in the run up to the decision not to let Qatar Airways have more flights. I would like to take the opportunity to remind the blue team that you voted against the Jacqui Lambie Network motion for the Prime Minister to publish his diary. You have brought this on yourselves. You have wasted a lot of Senate time and will continue to do that, because you didn't vote for transparency.

But again, the red and blue teams, they always vote together when it comes to preventing public scrutiny, but Australians are wising up to this. That's why independents like Ms Spender and Ms Scamps were elected. That's why Senator Tyrrell is sitting in here. I believe they want a parliament that is truly transparent. Maybe we may start getting some respect back from the Australian people if we do the right thing. By the way, that's called leadership. It is called leadership. According to recent polling by the Australia Institute, two out of three Australians think the government should be limited to appointing candidates short-listed by an independent regulator.

I have a warning for the government and the coalition: it is time you picked up your game. The last election saw the primary vote fall for the major parties. I can assure you, Australians are on to you. If you do not pick up your game you will continue to lose out. I know it's been nine years since Palmer United broke the seal and came up here and had the balance of power. I don't apologise for that. But that seal is well and truly broken, and you are getting more independents up here. Whilst I should haven't to lecture you on transparency, because you should be good human beings, that's what we're supposed to be doing—leading by example up here. The Australian people are not seeing this. Quite frankly, it makes the crossbench look bad. The way people think about you people, we're wearing that as well yet we up here are all about transparency. That is really unfair. How about you just do the right thing. Do the right thing for both major parties and start showing some transparency. I can assure you, that will earn a lot more trust of the Australian people. They'd feel more comfortable with the decisions we are making. And while you are giving mates who are not qualified jobs, part of the problem is we have become so comatose at getting anything through this House. That is part of your problem. You don't have qualified people to do the job. I can assure you, if you were running a business, your business would also go down the gurgler. That is the way life is. I'm asking you to get your act together and start leading by example.