Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

Tackling corruption is not a priority for the Morrison government. In fact, the truth is that fighting against corruption is, at best, a fringe issue for the Morrison government. You don't have to take my word for it; just ask the Prime Minister. In November 2018, just after he had stabbed Malcolm Turnbull in the back and become Prime Minister, this is how the current Prime Minister described the establishment of a national anticorruption body: 'a fringe issue'. And that is how he has treated the issue ever since. The ever-growing list of scandals surrounding this government shows why Australia needs a powerful and independent national integrity commission, and why the Prime Minister has no interest in establishing one.

I don't have time to go through all of the scandals surrounding the Morrison government, but it doesn't take any time at all to talk about what the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General have done about those scandals, and that's because they have done nothing. On Monday, we saw the Premier of Victoria and the federal Leader of the Opposition take swift and decisive action after Sunday night's 60 Minutes program. That's what leadership looks like. When it comes to tackling corruption, that's the sort of leadership that is sorely lacking from this Prime Minister and his government. Why is this government so scared of a national integrity commission? What do they have to hide?

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