House debates

Thursday, 10 February 2022

Statements by Members

Commonwealth Integrity Commission

1:56 pm

Photo of Mark DreyfusMark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | | Hansard source

The national anticorruption commission the Prime Minister promised Australians over three years ago has not been established. With the long list of government rorts, corruption scandals and recent revelations about this Prime Minister's lack of integrity by those who know him best, Australians are not surprised. But a huge number of Australians, including many who contact my office about this issue, are appalled. They are appalled by corruption scandals like sports rorts, car park rorts, paying a Liberal donor $30 million for land worth a tenth of that and the minister's for energy's involvement in grass-gate the forged documents scandal. The truth is that this Prime Minister and his colleagues are terrified of what an independent national anticorruption commission would reveal about what this government has been up to for years. This is a government that lives in terror of accountability as it staggers from scandal to scandal. This is a government that survives only by misusing its power to ensure secrecy and more cover-up.

Unlike the Morrison government, Labor won't ignore corruption in government. We know that strong action must be taken against corruption, and that's why, if we are elected, Labor will establish a powerful, transparent and independent national anticorruption commission.