MARK DREYFUS MP

Member for Isaacs

Airport Land Rort Shows We Need A National Integrity Commission Now

22 September 2020

The outrageous abuse of taxpayers’ money in the Western Sydney Airport land rort further proves the need for a National Integrity Commission.

MARK DREYFUS MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
 
CATHERINE KING MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
MEMBER FOR BALLARAT
 
 
AIRPORT LAND RORT SHOWS WE NEED A NATIONAL INTEGRITY COMMISSION NOW

 
The outrageous abuse of taxpayers’ money in the Western Sydney Airport land rort further proves the need for a National Integrity Commission.
 
Claims by ministers that they had no involvement in blowing $30 million on land they did not need for 30 years, and valued in their own Budget a year later at just $3 million, is a shocking abuse of  public office.
 
Scott Morrison refuses to explain how his Government came to pay a developer 10 times what the land was worth.
 
A powerful, independent National Integrity Commission would uncover the truth about this deal and hold ministers accountable.
 
It has now been almost three years since the Morrison Government claims to have started work on its weak, ineffective and opaque “Commonwealth Integrity Commission”.
 
It’s almost two years since Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Attorney-General Christian Porter promised to have draft legislation ready before the end of 2019.
 
And it’s been eight months since Mr Porter claimed in January that a draft bill to establish a “Commonwealth Integrity Commission” was “all but complete”, a bill he claimed in May was “ready to go”. 
 
The Morrison Government is so terrified of being held to account it refuses to allow a National Integrity Commission to be debated in the House, repeatedly shutting down debate on the issue.
 
Sports Rorts, Grassgate,  Angus Taylor’s forged letters, the Airport land rort – the ever-growing list of scandals surrounding the Morrison Government shows why Australia needs a powerful and independent National Integrity Commission – and why Mr Morrison and his colleagues will do everything in their power to stop it.
 
Labor is committed to the establishment of a powerful, transparent and independent National Integrity Commission.
 
TUESDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2020