Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I must say Senator McKim is more forgiving of the Assistant Treasurer than I would be in his place. I was quite staggered—I was surprised—when I heard the circumstances of the deal that was reneged on. I first heard the term 'renege' when I used to play cards with my grandparents. If you played the wrong card—you were meant to play a club or whatever and you played a heart—you reneged. That is the first time I heard the term. That's what's happened in this case.

I want to quote from the Sydney Morning Herald article of 24 November 2022 written by Rachel Clun. I can try to understand how the Assistant Treasurer met with Senator McKim and maybe did a deal he shouldn't have done. I could understand if he actually approached Senator McKim and said to him: 'I'm sorry about that. I overstepped the mark. I didn't really understand the consequences of what I was doing. The Treasurer's come down on me like a tonne of bricks. I've got to retreat.' I can understand if he did that; I can understand him making a mistake. We're all human. But what really distressed me, as someone who, over the last 3½ years, has gotten to know Senator McKim as a man of his word, is the Assistant Treasurer went to the press, as follows:

Jones said there had been no final agreement on the Greens' amendments, and there was clearly plenty of stakeholder concern about civil penalties.

"We've asked them what it would take to get their support for that and other bills," he said. "There'd been no sign-off on anything."

He actually went to the media and, in my view, cast imputations on Senator McKim. I don't know how many people were in the room, but there was Senator McKim and the Assistant Treasurer—they can't both be right. The same article quotes Senator McKim:

"There was 100 per cent, categorically a deal. We looked each other in the eye and shook hands," he said.

"If the minister is saying there was no agreement he is not fit to be a minister. This is a disgraceful move to renege—

there's that word 'renege'—

on our agreement."

Only one of them can be right. We're here in this chamber; we all know Senator McKim. I take Senator McKim at his word, absolutely. And I query: why didn't the Assistant Treasurer come out and just honestly say he overstepped the mark, he made a mistake? Why didn't he do that? Why did he come out and say there was no final agreement when Senator McKim is so certain that there was an agreement? Why do that? Why cast aspersions on one of our fellow senators? It was totally unnecessary, and, to me, that is the most concerning thing about this whole matter.

A senator from this place—and I don't care which party—actually approached a member of the executive and raised legitimate concerns. I was Chair of the Economics Legislation Committee in the last parliament, so I was part of the reporting process for this legislation. The level of civil penalties that senior executives in our banking industry should rightly face in the course of material misconduct is a very legitimate concern. Some of the things that came out of the Hayne royal commission are absolutely horrifying. It horrified me as an ex-company secretary and general counsel of a publicly listed company. What concerns me is that every senator in this place who approaches a member of the executive to have a discussion about proposed amendments to a piece of legislation should have faith that the member of the executive will stay true to their bargain, that they'll deliver on the deal. That's the way this place needs to work. It can't work otherwise, if you can't trust the members of the executive to stay true to their word when you engage with them on a matter such as this. That is the thing which most disturbs me: that a member of this place, a senator in this place, who cares passionately about this matter, went in and had a discussion with the Assistant Treasurer, in good faith thought they had a deal, and then the Assistant Treasurer tipped a bucket on him in the Sydney Morning Herald, in the public media. Absolutely astounding. I think all senators should be concerned about this.