Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The public deserves to know who our ministers are meeting with. The news today that former cabinet minister Stuart Robert met with consulting firm Accenture to discuss a $111 million federal project, triggering probity concerns, shows it's time that we published ministerial diaries. The public needs to know who ministers are meeting with and why, and they need to know that as soon as is practical. We should have known about this important meeting between former Minister Robert and Accenture in 2021, not now, after he's left office and resigned. The federal government needs to legislate to require ministers to publish the meetings that they have with lobbyists, politicians and interest groups. With trust in government at an all-time low, politicians must do more to actively reassure Australians that they are always acting in Australia's interests, rather than in their own self-interest.

The federal government agrees with me. When in opposition, now Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus spent years urging the then Attorney-General, George Brandis, to publish his ministerial diaries. At the time, he noted that there was 'an undeniable public interest in the release of public information about who a minister is meeting with'. I agree. The federal government should act to require its ministers to release their diaries. The public deserves faith in the integrity of government, and transparency is vital to integrity.