Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am really pleased to speak on this topic, because I know that maintaining—and, in fact, since we came into government, having to restore—the conventions of democracy is really important to me and my community. I remember when I was first a candidate in 2021 how appalled my community were at the absolute failure of those opposite to have delivered a National Anti-Corruption Commission when they were given the privilege of being in government. Our government's commitment to restore trust and integrity to federal politics is really important and it was recognised earlier this year, with Australia back in the top 10 nations in Transparency International's corruption perceptions index. We know trust declined over the years that those opposite were in government, and it is really important to me and my community—and our government—that we restore that trust.

Australia's reputation was absolutely trashed by those opposite, and we fell in the ranks for the first time in almost a decade. We had the worst result, in terms of corruption perception, of any OECD country and the worst result in Australia's history. This is simply appalling. This index is a very important independent measure. It acts as a barometer of global integrity and a powerful reminder for us in this place about what is at stake when corruption is allowed to take root. We saw that for ourselves in this country. We saw that there was a link between corruption and people's faith in government being dismantled. Their participation in democracy was undermined because of the corruption of the previous government. Our commitment to transparency is unwavering—

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