Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent:

(1) private Members' business order of the day No. 17 relating to the National Integrity Commission Bill 2018 standing in the name of the Member for Indi being called on immediately and being given priority over all other business, except for Question Time, for final determination by the House;

(2) immediately on conclusion of consideration of the National Integrity Commission Bill 2018, private Members' business order of the day No. 23 relating to the Coal-fired Power Funding Prohibition Bill 2018 standing in the name of the Member for Melbourne, being called on immediately and being given priority over all other business, with the exception of Question Time, for final determination by the House;

(3) immediately on conclusion of consideration of the Coal-fired Power Funding Prohibition Bill 2018, private Members' business order of the day No. 25 relating to the Migration Amendment (Urgent Medical Treatment) Bill 2018 standing in the name of the Member for Wentworth, being called on immediately and being given priority over all other business, with the exception of Question Time, for final determination by the House;

(4) notwithstanding the above, if the leader of the House and the Manager of Opposition Business agree that order of the day No. 1 relating to the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 should be given priority, then that order of the day shall be given priority over all other business, provided that the orders referred to in (1) to (3) above must be finally determined pursuant to (5) below; and

(5) if consideration of the orders of the day has not been completed by 7.30 pm on Wednesday, 5 December, any questions necessary to complete the House's consideration of the orders of the day being put to the House immediately and without delay or intervening debate.

We've now got a day and a half of this power-sharing parliament left this year. What is crystal clear is that the Australian people want issues brought up and resolved here that currently the government is trying to hide and stop us from resolving. So we need to suspend standing orders not just to debate these very important private members' bills, which I'll go to in a moment, but to allow them to be brought on for a vote. What is crystal clear is that there is a majority in both houses of this parliament now that want urgent action on climate change, want action on a national integrity commission and want to see better treatment for people that we are currently locking up, to the point where, within the next day—within the next hours—their health is at risk. What we need to do is to make the best use of this last day and a half, not by debating what the government has on the agenda—which is working out how we can take money away from universities and increase fees for students—but, instead, by debating these very important bills.

We need a national anticorruption commission in this parliament. Just in the last few days, both houses of parliament have resolved that we should establish one. For the first time ever, a motion that the Greens put through the Senate found its way to the House, and both houses of parliament have said, 'Let's set up a national anticorruption watchdog.' But, despite having days to do something about it, the government has done nothing. Here we are, left with a day and a half of this sitting calendar, and the government has done nothing.

We need to suspend standing orders so that we can debate the member for Indi's bill and send it through this House up to the Senate. People have said that there are things that need to be changed in the member for Indi's anticorruption bill. They can be looked at. When the matter comes to the Senate, I am sure the Senate will do its job and look at the amendments that need to be raised and find ways of doing that. But the Senate won't get the chance to do that if the current government continues to stall and prevent us from taking steps to have a national anticorruption watchdog before Christmas. So we must suspend standing orders to allow us to debate the member for Indi's bill. It is a very good working model, one that can be improved, and the Greens have brought amendments into the Senate to improve it. But let's get on with it and let's stop dragging our heels.

If you ask most people in the country, 'What would you rather have parliament spend its last day and a half debating—ways of lifting fees for students and cutting funding for universities, or establishing an anticorruption watchdog?' I know what they would say. I hope the government agrees to this motion to prioritise the establishment of an anticorruption watchdog, which we now know both houses of parliament want. What we also know is that, if we leave here in a day and a half with the laws as they are, this government is going to spend the summer months working out how to take money that could be going to schools and hospitals and give it to coal-fired power stations. That's why this motion is so urgent.

The government have said that they want a scheme in place over summer to start handing out, shovelling, public money either to keep coal-fired power stations open longer and allow the refurbishment of them or potentially even to go and build new ones. This is environmental madness, but it is also economic madness. It is going to expose the taxpayer to billions and billions of dollars of potential compensation, because the energy minister is saying, 'I might even underwrite their carbon risk in case a future government decides to take action on climate change.' It is urgent that we deal with this now, because those contracts could be signed over summer. We have seen in Victoria what happens when a government that is on its way out booby-traps the budget for a subsequent government. We saw it with the East West Link. They knew that the opposition didn't like it, but they nonetheless went ahead and signed contracts, and it cost us over a billion dollars. Let's prevent it this time by passing a law which says that the government can do what it wants, but it can't dole out money to coal-fired power stations.

What could be more urgent than the health and wellbeing of children who are currently locked up in detention and of adults who are being brought to the point of destruction? If we go back a few weeks ago, we had reports of 12-year-old children trying to kill themselves in detention centres under our watch. We now know that the people who are on Manus and Nauru, who are under the Australian government's care, are now at breaking point. They need to be given the medical attention they deserve, and they need to be given it immediately. We are not talking about something that can wait until later—until next year. That's why standing orders have to be suspended. We have to give them medical care now. If any of our children were sick, we would get them to the doctor straightaway. But what we've got is children who we should treat as our own because they are under the Australian government's care now threatening and, in some instances, attempting to kill themselves. They are in urgent need of medical attention, and they just cannot get it in the places where they are. They're locked up, or as good as locked up, and it is affecting their health. We must bring them, and the other people who doctors say are in need of medical attention that they can't currently get on Manus and Nauru, here for medical assistance as soon as possible.

The member for Wentworth has brought forward a bill, cosponsored by me and, I think, the member for Denison, to say: let's bring them here. It is a bill that is perfectly consistent with the policies of the other political parties in this place. There is a bill that would now ensure that these people get the urgent medical attention that they need. There can be no basis for opposing this motion, because what could be more urgent than getting people the medical help that they need? If the government do not support this motion, they have to explain why they are not prepared to listen to doctors' advice and give these people the medical assistance they need. The supreme irony is that the Minister for Home Affairs, who is not here, has said that he can't be here because he follows doctor's advice. I guess there's always a first time for everything! We have no confidence, sitting here on the crossbench, that that minister is going to do what the doctors say. Why we need legislation and why we need it urgently is so that people can get the care that they deserve.

Another matter that the government and the opposition have said is urgent and needs to be dealt with is encryption. I don't share that view about the urgency of the whole package of bills, nor do I share the view that this bill needs to be passed. I think it's a bill that deserves great scrutiny. There are huge alarm bells being rung not just by people concerned about civil liberties but by the tech sector, who are saying, 'This legislation, in many instances, is really going to make it difficult for us to stay in Australia.' In my view, that is legislation that should be dealt with through the usual processes, but respect the fact that the government has a different view and the opposition may have a different view as well.

A provision is included in this suspension motion to allow them to bump that up the agenda if they want. If they consider it so urgent, the numbers are the numbers so they can bring it on and debate it. It cannot be said that in any way we are getting in the way of important government business here, because nothing could be more important than restoring faith in this place by debating and establishing an anticorruption commission; nothing could be more important than stopping the government walking out of here in two days time with a blank chequebook exposing Australian taxpayers to billions of dollars of risk, because of their fetish for coal, because they are still under the control of a hard rump of climate denialists; and nothing could be more important than making sure that people who are under our care get the medical attention that they need.

I commend this motion and I urge the government to support it, so that we can debate and vote on what is important to the Australian people.

See this speech in context