David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of Australian Human Rights Commission Legislation Amendment (Selection and Appointment) Bill 2022. As I understand it, this bill seeks to introduce greater transparency into the selection and appointment of commissioners to the Australian Human Rights Commission. The commission is one of our great public institutions, endeavouring every day to stamp out instances of discrimination in our society. Just the other month I had the pleasure of meeting the Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Ben Gauntlett, and hearing about his work in pushing for greater equality and opportunity for people with disabilities across our community.

The presence of the Australian Human Rights Commission reminds us that in our nation—no matter the colour of your skin, your faith, your disability or whether you're part of the LGBTQIA community—everyone has a right to live their life free of discrimination. The commission supports this by monitoring our nation's compliance with international human rights standards and by providing a mechanism for people to lodge complaints in instances where they feel that they have been discriminated against. This includes instances where people feel they have been discriminated against by the Australian government, a department or agency or as a matter of policy. In this way the commission can also support the government and the parliament to identify and challenge areas of entrenched discrimination. They also advocate broadly for human rights to be better considered in lawmaking and policymaking.

The commission has a long history of providing frank and fearless advice to governments and to the public. To name one example, I remember well when in 2014 the commission released its watershed report, The Forgotten Children, into the detention of children in immigration centres. This sobering report found that Australia's policy of mandatory detention of asylum seeker children was causing significant mental and physical illness and developmental delays, in breach of Australia's human rights obligations. When the report's 324 pages were provided, amongst those pages the commission unflinchingly pronounced, 'Australia is better than this.' The commission drew significant ire from the then government, with a former Attorney-General allegedly asking for the Human Rights Commissioner to tender their resignation. However, the report's findings withstood all challenge—the product of extensive investigation and qualitative and quantitative research. The plight of these children may never have received the attention it deserved without the Human Rights Commission.

Our public institutions are at their best when they are holding truth to power and acting without fear or favour to bring issues to the attention of policymakers. We have the best people for these roles and we need to ensure that they also have the public's trust. But a loose set of laws, at least those underpinning this commission, have left room for political appointments that have undermined both public and international trust in this institution. This has occurred to the extent that the commission is currently at risk of losing its status as an A-grade national human rights institution and being downgraded to the B grade. This bill seeks to remedy that risk and will undoubtedly strengthen the commission as an institution by making clear that appointments to the commission must be merit based and made transparently. I welcome the new government's commitment to transparency. Much has been made by them about issues of transparency in the past and I look forward to them following through with this and ensuring that all legislation that comes through this place has a high degree of transparency.

This bill makes further amendments to ensure that all commissioners appointed hold appropriate qualifications, knowledge or experience. Simply, the bill ends a 'policy for mates' approach in the commission. This really should be standard across our public institutions. I think there's an expectation by Australians that people get jobs based on merit and not because of who they know. According to the Grattan Institute, seven per cent of all federal government appointees have a direct political connection. This figure rises to an alarming 21 per cent among those positions that are well paid, prestigious and/or considered powerful. This is an indictment on politics in Australia that needs to be remedied. Our communities are frustrated with this and they want it to change. This is a welcome first step in the right direction to actually deal with these sobering figures.

Political appointments harm our democracy and significantly undermine confidence in our public institutions. This means that we miss out, and have been missing out, on the most qualified and knowledgeable people to fill these roles. It also perpetuates a culture where some of our highest decision-makers may be afraid to speak their minds and criticise government policies simply because they're worried about their future job prospects. Altogether, it means that the people appointed to make crucial decisions about our everyday lives may be doing so for their own party political interests rather than the public interest—rather than for the people who pay for them to be there to serve Australians.

It's time to restore integrity to appointments in our public sector. This bill is a good first step, but there is a way to go. While I appreciate the urgency in passing this legislation to avoid a downgrade in the commission's international rankings, I hope we can keep our sights on a broader set of reforms to end the jobs-for-mates culture. We should also be looking to make changes that ensure all board, tribunal and statutory appointments are advertised publicly and with selection criteria, as for almost every other job in the country. We should also look to ensure that there are mechanisms where these appointments can be assessed independently, with a ranked shortlist presented to responsible ministers for their consideration.

This is a good first step and I commend this bill, but I sincerely hope that it's not the last one.