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

Writing on ICAC's inquiry into Gladys Berejiklian this morning, Guardian Australia journalist Anne Davies said this:

Aside from the lack of judgment shown in commenting on current proceedings involving a political colleague, the prime minister's comments show a woeful lack of insight …

I think she's being generous. This Prime Minister does have insight into how effectively ICAC operates to root out corruption in New South Wales, and that's precisely why the national anticorruption commission he promised Australians over a thousand days ago is still nowhere in sight.

The Deputy Prime Minister let the cat out of the bag earlier this month when he said that ICAC meant—and I'm not making this up—'politicians are basically terrified to do their job.' While the Prime Minister is currently at war with his deputy on climate policy, they are in heated agreement that a federal anticorruption commission for them is a terrifying prospect. The Prime Minister and his deputy are right to be terrified of what an independent national anticorruption commission would reveal about what they've been up to over the last eight years.

Unlike the Morrison government Labor isn't terrified of taking strong action against corruption in government, and unlike the Morrison government Labor in government will establish a powerful, transparent and independent national anticorruption commission to hold all politicians to account.