Zhi Soon (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The shadow Attorney-General has brought us here today to talk about secrecy. While I have a lot of respect for the member for Berowra, it has to be said at the outset that the idea that that party—the party of five secret ministries—could attempt to lecture anyone in this place about secrecy is amusing, though I suppose the Liberals and the Nationals know a thing or two about a culture of secrecy, seeing as the former prime minister swore himself and one of his allies into a whole bevy of portfolios without telling his colleagues. In fact the inquiry conducted found that Liberal members enabled a culture of secrecy that has a corrosive impact on public trust and undermined the basic principles of our system of government. Let us not forget that when those across the chamber were last in government they also oversaw robodebt, which caused untold suffering to nearly half a million Australians over debts they didn't even owe. They gave us an administrative appeals tribunal full of Liberal and National candidates that was beset by delays, mismanagement and cronyism. They promised an anticorruption commission and then didn't deliver as much as a thought bubble around it for three years. They made no response to Respect at Work, had inaction on privacy and whistleblower reform and left Australians vulnerable to money laundering. They also oversaw programs such as sports rorts, car park rorts, the Building Better Regions Fund and the purchase of the Leppington triangle at 1,000 per cent of the face value to boot. When it comes to lectures on matters of credibility, those opposite should be receiving them, not giving them.

The Labor government's record on integrity could not be more different from the former government. In fact it's a stark contrast. We are a government that is committed to integrity, honesty and accountability in government. We have already delivered a significant reform agenda to restore public trust in government and create higher standards in the federal public sector. While the former government were all talk on the National Anti-Corruption Commission, this government has been all action. During the election campaign in 2022 we said we would get it done by the end of that year and, guess what, we did, delivering an NACC to deter, detect and prevent corruption conduct across the public sector. We implemented the recommendations of the Bell inquiry to improve transparency and restore the public trust in Australian democracy that was lost as a result of the secret ministries affair. We created, as my colleague mentioned before, the Administrative Review Tribunal, a new administrative review body that is user focused, efficient and accessible but, most importantly, is also independent and free from undue political influence. We established the royal commission into robodebt and re-established the Administrative Review Council, one of the commission's key recommendations. The council will be an expert body to monitor and advise on the operation and integrity of the administrative review system. We passed the Respect at Work legislation, which now requires businesses across the country to take proactive steps to create workplaces that are free from sexual harassment.

There is so much more I could speak about, be it the APS Integrity Taskforce, strengthening the Public Service Act, strengthening whistleblower protections or the development of a third national action plan for transparency and accountability. The member for Berowra spoke in his remarks about the proposed reforms to the Freedom of Information Act. Freedom of information is a vital feature of our democracy. It promotes accountability and transparency in government, but right now FOI is not fit for purpose and the laws need updating to bring it into the 21st century. The contrast between this government and those opposite could not be clearer. It is why Australians voted for this government, and we've delivered integrity in spades.

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