Jessica Collins (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week, the Centre for Public Integrity released its integrity report card on the Albanese government, and it is absolutely scathing. This independent report shows that the Albanese government is the most secretive and unaccountable government of this century. This government is absolutely petrified of transparency. Just what is the Labor government so terrified of showing us? The Centre for Public Integrity assessed the government across a key range of transparency benchmarks, and this Labor government has failed on all indicators. FOI redactions are the automatic response of departments under these ministers. Cronyism is rife and lobbyists rule. Opposition staff designed to scrutinise the government have been drastically cut. Oversight has been stripped bare. We are on the slippery slope to authoritarianism, and it is by the design of this Labor government.

Review after review has now revealed that the undemocratic and secretive practices of the Albanese Labor government are unprecedented. What are those opposite so scared to reveal? Are they trying to hide that we are having a looming economic disaster? Leaked Treasury documents have already indicated so—that power prices will rise dramatically while blackouts from Bowen to Butler cripple our nation. The freedom of information system designed to make the government more accountable to the people who elected it has been absolutely trashed. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, but the more the Australian public see of this Labor government, the less they will like. No wonder they are trying to hide.