Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the minister's explanation. I am in agreement with a lot of the comments that have already been made by Senator David Pocock and Senator Paterson.

Two years ago, the government commissioned the Briggs review to clean up public sector board appointments. It was meant to shine a light on a system riddled with cronyism. Minister Gallagher said it was:

… all about putting an end to the jobs for mates culture that defined the previous Morrison Government's public sector appointments.

Importantly, the review was conducted to improve transparency over appointments, and to be open with the public and to restore public trust in public institutions.

The review was handed to the minister in August 2023, and, rather than release it, the government has locked it away under cabinet confidentiality. Think about that for a moment: a report about transparency, meant to shine a light on how powerful appointments are made, has been buried in the shadows of cabinet. It's absurd. It is the very definition of 'irony'. It's a textbook example of the old politics that the Prime Minister once proposed to leave behind.

We know what's at stake here. These boards oversee billions in public money and they carry enormous responsibility. The people who sit on them should be appointed because of their skills, their expertise and their commitment to the public good, not because of their political connections. The Briggs review was meant to lay out a pathway to achieve this, but without public scrutiny how can we know whether the government is serious about reform? Worse still, every high-profile appointment since the review was delivered is now tainted by speculation.

It begs the question: what is Labor hiding? The Labor government promised Australians a new era of integrity, transparency and accountability in public life. That promise was central to their election campaign. It's a promise they repeatedly claimed as the bedrock of their Public Service reform agenda. Yet, when faced with the opportunity to prove their commitment to openness, the government has chosen secrecy. Labor cannot have it both ways. They cannot lecture about rebuilding trust in democracy while withholding a report designed to do exactly that. They cannot decry the culture of a jobs-for-mates culture while refusing to let Australians see the recommendations for ending it. The public has a right to know, and we believe integrity must be more than a slogan.

If the government truly believe in merit based, transparent and fair appointments, they should release the Briggs review today. Until they do, every word they say about integrity in public life and every appointment they make at the senior level that breaks their own rules, or where it is unclear on how it was made, will ring hollow.

Question agreed to.