Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think that context is important. It is very important that I lay out the context before I start talking about the substance of this private member's bill. Context matters.

With respect to our broad based integrity agenda, we are now working on a second stage of reforms that will strengthen the whistleblower framework, and next week we're going to be opening that up to public consultation. I encourage all Australians who are interested in whistleblowing to make a contribution—not just the peak bodies but all Australians. We certainly have committed to establishing a whistleblower ombudsman, which I think is a very welcome step.

We have also proudly rejoined what is called the Open Government Partnership. This turns out to be an international alliance of countries that are determined to progress transparency in government. It is this Labor government that did that. We have passed new laws—and I'm particularly proud of this—to improve the detection and prosecution of foreign bribery, influence and, particularly, money laundering in this country through mechanisms like real estate and even jewellery, precious metals and stones. There are now much stronger protections around those kinds of activities.

Of course, let's not forget that we passed the Respect at Work legislation, not in piecemeal fashion but in its entirety. That was a piece of work that was left half done by the previous government. When we came to government, this parliament was stained with a reputation of toxicity and alcohol-fuelled behaviours and partying. It looked nothing like a professional workplace. The injection of a large cohort of women parliamentarians through the Albanese Labor government means that we've seen an uplift in standards in this place. I pay tribute to the work of the member for Newcastle, the Deputy Speaker in the other place, Sharon Claydon, and Minister Katy Gallagher in pushing this work through. It's incredibly important.

Now let's go to the matter of the lobbying register. I have just laid out a catalogue of all of the Albanese Labor government's achievements on integrity. It was a very broad based agenda. It was far-reaching, touching on many aspects: corruption, strengthening the Public Service, whistleblower protections and improving the standards and behaviour of parliamentarians in this place. But there is now the important matter of how we manage lobbying in government. Speaking to another Labor government legacy, the Lobbying Code of Conduct was introduced by the Rudd Labor government in 2008. It applies to ministerial staff and ministers. In 2008, Senator Faulkner—and I'll read it out because his words were prescient and they apply to today as well—said:

The Government recognises that lobbying is a legitimate activity and part of the democratic process. Lobbyists can help individuals and organisations communicate their views on matters of public interest to the Government and, in doing so, improve outcomes for the individual and community as a whole.

However, there is a legitimate concern that Ministers, their staff and officials who are the target of lobbying activities are not always fully informed as to the identity of the people who have engaged a lobbyist to speak on their behalf. The Government believes that this information can be fundamental to the integrity of its decisions and should be freely available to those who are lobbied and to the wider public.

So we established a lobbying code of conduct which extended to third-party lobbyists.

For people watching, third-party lobbyists are basically on a register now. They're listed on a register. Companies or even not-for-profits, for example, can approach them and seek their services, which are paid for, usually, and then they go to work to try and seek meetings with ministers or parliamentarians, for example, in Parliament House. They are registered. The substance of this bill, I think, that Senator Pocock has put forward is to now extend that to in-house lobbyists. That means the people who come through Parliament House who have sponsored passes. The two are quite separate. The sponsored pass list is managed by the parliament and the people who have carriage over that are the presiding officers. It's not the government. It's held at arm's length from that.

Returning to the issue of the lobbyist register, if there are breaches of that, it comes with penalties. The registration obligations now put forward in this bill seek to extend this to in-house lobbyists. I'm happy to speak about some of the people who lobby me. It's not Woodside. It's actually renewable energy companies and a lot of community groups, and I never say no to them. They're welcome to come and see me in my electorate office or here. Of course, it's also a lot of pharmaceutical companies because of my background as a doctor and my previous membership on the health committee in the other place.

The code currently prohibits former ministers from lobbying on matters that they had official dealings with for at least 18 months after they've left office. So there is a lockout period baked in because we recognise that we have to protect the public and private sectors against integrity risks, knowing full well that we also have the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which has all the powers of a royal commission and can investigate any claim, complaint or concern put forward by any member of the public. So that is the outline of our track record. (Time expired)