Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022. When the multiple ministries scandal involving the former Prime Minister detonated in August of last year it left Australians reeling, but also breathing a sigh of relief. They had dodged a bullet; they had kicked out a carcass of a government reeking of corruption from rorts, political stacking and a warped ideology intent on marching over the weak and notable also for it self-aggrandisement despite its chronic underperformance on multiple fronts, ranging from climate, women's economic development, integrity and resilience building. The multiple ministry scandal has been scorched onto our national psyche. This assault on a democracy already resting on shaky pillars represented the former Prime Minister's plot to sew himself and his government into power for good. At the end of their term, they resembled a syndicate operating in a moral vacuum rather than a government working in the national interest. And the people of Higgins and elsewhere noticed. Whilst this saga may have eroded public confidence in government, it has been heartening to watch how swiftly the Albanese government acted to install more robust legislated safeguards to ensure this never happens again.

The explanation proffered by the former PM was a convoluted word salad designed to obfuscate rather than to enlighten. I was none the wiser at its conclusion, but can only speculate that he used the cloud cover of the pandemic to amass power. It was a violation of the Westminster system of government and an abrogation of cabinet process. It also exposed the Commonwealth to risk over any disputed contracts involving the then PM. It speaks volumes that today's modern Liberal Party boasts precious few who are prepared to stand up for accountability and sanction the former Prime Minister. Instead, they circle the wagons and double down, confecting moral outrage directed at the parliament over this being a witch-hunt. Despite their cabinet being completely undermined—hobbled, even—they held fast to the party line, putting self above the national interest. With one exception: I commend the member for Bass for having the moral courage to cross the floor in the name of democracy. Why her colleagues acquiesced with the former Prime Minister is unfathomable, and history will judge them accordingly.

If anything, this parliament's historic censure of the former Prime Minster last November should instil some assurance that the basic democratic principles of responsible government, integrity, accountability and transparency remain alive in his House. The Albanese government is trying to starve corruption of oxygen. As a mark of this commitment, we wasted no time in establishing and inquiring into the legality of the former Prime Minister's actions. On 26 August last year, Hon. Virginia Bell was appointed to lead an inquiry into the implications of the former Prime Minister's clandestine self-appointment to five additional ministerial portfolios. These included health, finance, industry and science, energy and resources, home affairs and Treasury. Indeed, Bell's conclusions affirmed the blow this power grab struck to public trust in government. The Albanese government has responded with legislation to ensure that the Australian people always know who their ministers are.

Allowing no time to elapse after the release of Bell's report, we have started legislating its recommendations into the Ministers of State Act. These reforms will enshrine the checks and balances required to prevent further attacks on our democracy and expunge the possibility of Australians, the parliament or executive government ever being ignorant of who is running the show. Specifically, this bill will require the Official Secretary to the Governor-General to publish a notifiable instrument, registered on the federal register of legislation, that the Governor-General has chosen, summoned and sworn an executive councillor to the Executive Council, appointed an officer to administer a department of state or directed a minister of state to hold an office. It will also require notification of the revocation of any of these positions. It's importance cannot be understated: a defence against the slippery slope of autocracy. The Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022 is this government's message to the Australian people that integrity and trust in government matter, and that we will not delay or deny the need to restore either.

It is important to reflect on the how rather than the why that the multiple ministries scandal arose. Events of this magnitude do not occur de novo unless the scene has been set. Indeed, the ministry scandal was a low point in a pattern of poor behaviour of the former government, which had become normalised because there were no consequences. Systems had been weakened, people silenced or public institutions neutered.

Hence we have turned our eye to hardening the public sector against corruption with a suite of measures as part of our overarching integrity agenda. In the wake of the termination of the secret trial of Bernard Collaery, the Albanese government intends to strengthen public sector whistleblower protections. Specifically, this tranche of reforms will enforce a positive duty on public sector agencies to protect whistleblowers. It will include: better education of officials; protections for witnesses; improved oversight of roles for watchdogs like the Ombudsman and Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, who oversee our national security agencies; improved sharing of information; and streamlined investigative processes.

These reforms could have been implemented sooner if not for the antics in the Senate in December last year by the Greens, who, with the coalition, scuppered release of the report from the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on amendments to whistleblower protections. We intend to deliver these reforms, not delay them, and remain hopeful that they will be in place before the National Anti-Corruption Commission is established.

Our bill will implement 21 recommendations of the 2016 Moss review and other parliamentary committee reports that were parked by the previous Liberal government, as part of a wasted decade of talk and not enough walk. We have also started a long overdue review of all secrecy provisions in Commonwealth legislation. We are particularly concerned about protecting press freedom, which is why the Attorney-General convened a roundtable with media organisations on 27 February this year. Journalists should feel free to do their job without fear of going to jail. Like the NACC, press freedom is key to holding government to account.

These reforms around protecting press freedom emerged from a joint committee on intelligence and security in 2020 and from the Senate standing committee in May 2021, but nothing was advanced—again, a footnote in the wasted decade of Liberal rule. The omission of action by the Liberals threatened press freedom, which is perfect for a government with an aversion to scrutiny. While public trust in the judicial system is high, we recognise that it cannot be taken for granted. This is why the Albanese government has given in-principle support to the establishment of a federal judicial commission in response to recommendations by the Australian Law Commission, an institution established by Gough Whitlam.

Misconduct by judges is rare, but it can have devastating effects on ordinary people, amplified by the asymmetry of power. Hence we want to ensure that complaints can be handled in a transparent and independent way so that trust in the judicial system is not eroded and Australians get that fair go. The fair go, like press freedom and human rights, are seeds that need cultivation in a thriving garden of democracy. Pour toxic killer on them, in the form of a power hungry, morally bereft government, and you get a fertile ground for corruption to gain a foothold.

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