Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was despicable behaviour, and we are yet to see the full account, to see whether people in fact are held to account for that terrible injustice.

We watched the former government pay $30 million to a Liberal Party donor for land worth $3 million in the airport land scandal. And we saw the Australian National Audit Office have their funding cut as punishment when they did their job and started to uncover some of those scandals. We witnessed the Liberals appointing dozens of Liberal Party colleagues and friends to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Even now we are still uncovering more and more shocking stories of inappropriate use of federal government programs and taxpayer dollars under the Liberals.

No wonder the former government never brought a bill before the parliament to establish an integrity commission despite repeated promises to do so. It would have exposed them and the inconceivable lack of integrity that was on display to all who chose to look. Is it any wonder that Australians are feeling a profound distrust in government and a disappointment in democratic institutions. That is a blight on everybody. Now it is incumbent on this government to try to restore that trust. We've seen repeated research after each election cycle where trust in our system of government and our democratic institutions is now at record lows—plummeting—and that is in nobody's interest.

At the end of the day, Australians need to be able to trust government, to trust that we will always do the right thing. A national integrity commission has been a priority, allegedly for the whole parliament, but it's not until now that we're going to see a bill to try to tackle some of those profound and now entrenched feelings of disquiet amongst the Australian people. It may seem like common sense but, quite simply, we want to close the door on corruption. The time for sweeping things under the carpet is over. The time for ignorance and negligence went out the door, and it should never, ever be allowed to surface again. Labor are in charge now, and we are going to clean this up. Shockingly the Commonwealth is the only Australian jurisdiction without an anti-corruption commission, and I think that says a lot. The bill before the House now to establish a National Anti-Corruption Commission is the single biggest reform to the Commonwealth integrity framework in decades.

We have the Attorney-General sitting with us in this debate. I want to acknowledge not just your hard work now but your incredible dedication to pursue this issue of anticorruption and ensure that our national parliament would be in step with all the other jurisdictions around Australia. I want to put on record that thanks and appreciation to you as somebody on our side who has really driven a long process now of consultation, and we do appreciate that.

It's one of the many steps the Albanese Labor Government is taking to return honesty, accountability and integrity to government and to rebuild trust amongst the Australian people. We know that corruption erodes trust and distrust weakens the ability of government to deliver vital funding and reform to improve our country and our communities. The establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission shows that Labor are taking our role in government seriously. We want to be the best we can be, because we want to build a better future for all Australians. That's why this powerful and transparent commission will operate independently of government, and that is so important. The commission will have wideranging powers and responsibilities. It will be able to investigate criminal and non-criminal corrupt conduct and investigate ministers, parliamentarians, their staff and statutory officeholders, as well as employees of all government entities and contractors.

Importantly, it will work right across government to prevent corruption from occurring in the first place. Prevention is absolutely where we need to be focused. By all means we've got to address corruption wherever it tries to infect our systems, but let's double down on our efforts to prevent it in the first place. We know that one of the biggest issues in addressing corruption is people having the confidence to speak out about corrupt conduct without fear of retribution, and that's why this legislation will, very importantly, provide strong protections for whistleblowers and exemptions for journalists to protect the identity of their sources. This legislation gives the commission broader powers to educate the public sector about corrupt conduct and how to prevent corruption, as well as educating the wider public about corruption and how to report it to the commission, and that's such an important and very Labor focus, to ensure that we have got an adequate public education program that scaffolds around the work of the Anti-Corruption Commission, because we are trying not just to lift the tone of this parliament and government processes but to engage all Australians in a discussion about how to ensure and protect our systems of government and our institutions.

It will be an Anti-Corruption Commission with teeth. Spending taxpayer dollars should be open and accountable, and appointments to government boards and tribunals must be open and accountable. The federal public sector should be open and accountable. If corrupt behaviour occurs there must be a way to investigate and punish inappropriate behaviours, and this legislation will give the Anti-Corruption Commission powers similar to those of a royal commission. It's vital that we get this right. Corruption does not stop at territory, state or international borders; nor should our efforts to stop it in its tracks. In designing the commission we have reviewed, analysed and utilised the best aspects of state and territory models and we've worked closely with integrity experts. I must say, this is probably the only silver lining to being the only jurisdiction that hasn't had an anticorruption commission, that we're able to take some time to examine what has worked in each of the other jurisdictions. We've drawn on those existing models, with a particular focus on the prevention and education aspects, because, while it's important to investigate corruption, it should never have the opportunity to eventuate in the first place. That's what the aim of a Labor government is.

But that's not all. The establishment of a national anticorruption commissions forms an important part of a broader integrity framework with large reforms, including effective protections for whistleblowers; enhancing the transparency and integrity of political donations, including real-time disclosures; and a merit based and transparent appointments process. We are also considering options to establish a federal judicial commission to reinforce trust in the judicial system. We are committed to the principles of the Open Government Partnership, of which Australia is a member, and we'll develop an action plan to improve the level of open government, transparency and accountability in this country.

We're tracking fraud in the NDIS, and a new Fraud Fusion Taskforce is being established. We've established a new and robust ministerial code of conduct, and we are developing parliamentary standards for all parliamentarians, staff and, indeed, all people who work, visit and engage in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces, because we have been found lacking. Nobody in this parliament can deny the fact that we failed in our duty over successive governments to ensure that there were proper levels of accountability and real consequences for failing to provide safe and respectful places to work. That is a focus of this government now, and we'll be having a lot more to say about that in the future.

Australians made very clear that they want a federal parliament that is honest. They want us to be accountable. They want this parliament to be transparent in its operations and its transactions. They want us to restore integrity and confidence in the very heart of our democracy, and that's what this bill does. I couldn't be more proud to stand as a member of the Labor government that is introducing this bill. I sincerely hope that there will be multiparty support. I know there are lots of amendments and lots of negotiations underway, but nobody in this chamber would want to vote against the establishment of a national anticorruption commission. Nobody could go home to their electorates and look anyone in the eye and say, 'We had an opportunity to correct a historical wrong in the Australian parliament, and we failed to stand up and do our duty.' I'm not going home to the people of Newcastle with that message, I can assure you. I don't think anyone in this parliament wants to be telling that story. So I encourage everybody to vote in support of this bill before the House. There is no time to delay. Our Labor government is setting the standard, cleaning up this place and making sure we are a government the Australian people can trust.

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