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

I associate myself with Senator Barbara Pocock's remarks in this regard and also with Senator Andrew Bragg's remarks. This is simply not good enough. Earlier in the week the Prime Minister used the forum of federal parliament to table the review into the Liberal Party's performance at last election. The Australian people aren't interested in the internal machinations of the opposition. They're interested in the government actually addressing the matters of concern to the Australian people, and, as Senator Pocock and Senator Bragg said, one of the No. 1 issues is access to affordable housing.

The minister came into this place, and in terms of his explanation as to why, in response to an order for the production of documents from the Senate, we were given five or six redacted pages—and, for those who don't know what the practice is, it's just pages covered in black ink. This Senate legitimately asked for the modelling of the home deposit guarantee program because the Senate was concerned, as nearly every reputable economist in the country was concerned, that it would lead to an increase in the cost of housing for first entrants into the housing market, and that's what we've now seen, as Senator Bragg said.

The latest figures for the first quarter in which the program was in operation show that the cost of housing went up 3.6 per cent for first home buyers. So we want to see the modelling from Treasury that was provided to the government to form the basis of the decision to implement this scheme, and the government is refusing to provide it to us. It's not good enough. They're not just refusing to provide it to us; they're refusing to provide it to the Australian people.

I'm genuinely and desperately concerned for those first home buyers who have entered into the market with the burden of a debt I could not have imagined undertaking when I was buying my first property, and I'm also concerned with respect to future first home buyers, those who are seeking to enter into the market with this escalation in housing prices. The Senate—the house of review, the house of scrutiny, one of the great checks on executive power in Australia's political system—is seeking the information to do its job, and the Senate is being treated with absolute contempt by this government.

The second point I want to make in this regard—and I've referred to this report from the Centre for Public Integrity on numerous occasions, so this isn't a one-off—is about the contempt for orders for the production of documents, which are issued by the Senate; the failure to answer legitimate questions in the Senate estimates; and the failure to respond in a timely fashion to FOI requests. This is part of a pattern of behaviour. I want to quote from the Centre for Public Integrity's report. The Centre for Public Integrity was established by outstanding Australians. It's non-political, non-partisan; it simply wants to see better government in this country. This is what they say about the performance of the Albanese Labor government:

In July 2025, the Centre for Public Integrity released two reports assessing the Government's record on transparency. In respect of freedom of information …

They warned of 'a worrying increase in FOI application refusals.'

They also say:

Instead of fixing the problem, the Government doubled down. The Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 represents a serious and alarming step backward—expanding exemptions, re-introducing application fees, and banning anonymous requests. These changes are almost universally opposed …

That bill was withdrawn this week by the government in embarrassment, because they couldn't get the support of the majority in this place, because all the parties in this place who aren't in the government and those on the crossbench weren't prepared to support that erosion of FOI. The government had to withdraw that bill.

This is how this culture of the Albanese Labor government has been described: 'leaning into a culture of secrecy'. These aren't my words as a Liberal National Party senator from Queensland; these are the words of the Centre for Public Integrity that's established on a nonpartisan basis to hold governments of all political persuasions to account.

Question agreed to.