Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to talk about integrity. The government last week was so desperately trying to call into question the integrity of trade unions, and I'm glad they were unsuccessful, because there is nothing wrong with the integrity of hardworking union members. This government is obsessed with scrutinising trade unions, but they are so desperate to avoid accountability and scrutiny themselves. This is a government that does not think twice about trying to silence those that disagree with it. Prime Minister Morrison loves to talk about the so-called quiet Australians, but, as the Labor leader pointed out today, what Prime Minister Morrison really means is that everyone should just shut up and listen to him. What happens if you don't agree with this government? They will try to silence you. Take charities, for example. The government has consistently attacked their right to advocate on environmental issues, legal issues, social issues, poverty, disadvantage and climate change. Why? Because the government doesn't want us talking about those things.

Recently, the government announced plans to ban consumer boycotts by environmentalists calling out bad corporate behaviour. Why? Because the protesters are talking about climate change, an issue the government just does not want to discuss.

Then there are the government's relentless attacks on unions and their members. Their recently defeated ensuring integrity laws threaten to weaken and even shut down unions. Why? This government is pretty keen to take us back to the Work Choices era and water down the rights of Australian workers. And what's the best way to do that? Silencing the organisations that stand up for workers today.

Let's talk about their behaviour towards journalists and the media. This government simply refuses to answer questions it doesn't like. It ignores its legal obligations to provide documents under freedom of information, and it appears to be comfortable allowing the Australian Federal Police to raid journalists' homes and expose their sources. Why do they do all of this? Because they don't like it when people hold them to account. Shutting down open and critical debate in a liberal democracy does not look like integrity to me.

In Australia, the public expect their right to know to be protected. They expect the freedom of the media to be protected. The government's attacks on these freedoms are as arrogant as they are shocking. But maybe that is just it—maybe this government is just arrogant. Just look at their response to the latest controversy surrounding Minister Angus Taylor. Here we have a government minister who is being investigated by the New South Wales police for using a doctored document to attack a political opponent. Past governments would have stood the minister aside during the investigation, but not this lot. Instead, the Prime Minister calls up his mate, who just so happens to be the police commissioner—and he does that in the presence of the Attorney-General, no less. And they refuse to provide a transcript or notes from the call, even under an order for production of documents from the Senate. This stinks, and I cannot think of a previous government that would have acted in this way.

It is clear that this government wouldn't know integrity if it slapped them in the face. It is more important than ever before that this government is held to account. So I say to union members, 'Stand up and speak out.' And I say to the climate protesters, 'You are fighting for all of our futures.' And I say to the media, 'Keep asking the hard questions.' And I say to the charities and not-for-profits, 'Keep advocating for the people that you represent,' because our country won't grow stronger if you are silent. It is the efforts of those in our community who speak up, who advocate, who ask the questions and interrogate the answers and who hold governments to account that make us stronger.