David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It's a pity we can't get the coalition to support this amendment from Senator Lambie, because, literally, the coalition's amendment just brings things forward. It doesn't increase the actual amount of reporting and transparency. If we are going to set up a commissioner, I think this commissioner is going to have a lot of work to do.

In my contribution in the second reading debate, I didn't have a chance to acknowledge on the record my appreciation of the work of Mr Michael Manthorpe, who was the interim head of the commission first appointed, and I've got to say I genuinely appreciated his work: the set of principles and amendments that he proposed in that role as the head of commission to increase the power of the commissioner and to ensure that the commissioner is genuinely independent of the government. For those who have been following this debate, I think his set of recommendations that he put as the interim head, which have largely found their way into this legislation, have been critical.

I think it would be remiss of us not to note and acknowledge his work. It's hard to do that from inside the executive. He was appointed in that role. I really want to acknowledge on the record the work that he did. Part of what he was recommending was broadening and expanding the capacity of the commissioner to report to parliament—not to a minister, not to a government department. They would actually report and effectively be an officer of the parliament. It's in the spirit of his recommendations that I think Senator Lambie has moved this to have annual reports to the parliament. We could have achieved it. We could have achieved annual reports. It's just that the coalition baulked. Even though their amendments make a marginal improvement on the bill, they don't really increase the amount of transparency. They just bring it forward.

I say again to the coalition: reconsider your opposition to Senator Lambie's amendment, because it actually produces that annual transparency. The veterans community wants that annual transparency, and I'm sure they've told you that they want that annual transparency. That's why the Greens will be supporting Senator Lambie's amendment and, only if that doesn't succeed, supporting the coalition's amendment.