Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022, and I do so because I believe a primary role of this parliament and of government is to be accountable, transparent and honest with the people we are elected to serve. It might once have been fair to assume that the amendment before us would not be necessary. Those who drafted the original legislation would probably have never imagined the need to spell out the requirement for formal notification of any changes to the Federal Executive Council. Ministerial responsibility for crucial areas of public policy and administration is usually something that is universally understood as a matter of importance and in the public interest to know. But these so-called shared assumptions about how democratic governments are meant to function were suddenly no longer shared under the previous government, as we have seen and discovered. What we now know is that because of the actions of the member for Cook in the dying days of the government he led, this amendment is now indeed necessary. As we know, the member for Cook had himself installed as the minister for five departments, without bothering to tell the nation what he was doing—nor his ministerial colleagues, for that matter. It would seem that he didn't even bother to tell the sworn ministers that he had taken over their portfolios. Apparently being the Prime Minister and being responsible for administering the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet wasn't enough for him. He decided to also avail himself and appoint himself as minister for health, finance, industry, science, energy and resources, the Treasury and Home Affairs.

Earlier this year, the Edelman Trust survey revealed that Australians have an alarmingly reduced level of trust in their governments. According to this annual survey, the level of trust Australians had in government had dropped quite significantly on the international trustworthiness index and was now below 50 per cent. It's no wonder that the Australian people have trouble trusting government, when the leader of the previous government clearly couldn't even trust his own ministers—so much so, that he decided to do their jobs form them.

This amendment is necessary, because we need to rebuild trust in the integrity of government. There are many ways we can do this. We can do it by keeping our promises; by being honest and open about the challenges we face; through maintaining a practical commitment to fairness and equity in our policies and programs; through encouraging frank and fearless advice from the public service; and through spending public money wisely and in the national interest, rather than on securing votes in marginal seats. In many, if not all, of these areas the previous government managed to slowly erode more and more of the Australian people's trust. We on this side are committed to rebuilding that trust through honest leadership and with integrity. But for now, let us focus on the issue of transparency, because that's what this amendment seeks to enshrine when it comes to ministerial responsibility.

This amendment is a carefully considered response to the inquiry led by former High Court justice, the Hon. Virginia Bell. This inquiry was independent, non-political and non-partisan. The amendment is designed to reinforce the principles of responsible government. It is hard to imagine how anyone could possibly take issue with this. I want to highlight how important honesty—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is now interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour and, given you were interrupted, you will be given leave to resume speaking when the debate is resumed.