MARK DREYFUS
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
GOVERNMENT LOOKS AFTER ITS OWN WITH AAT APPOINTMENTS
At a time when record numbers of Australians are looking for secure work, the Morrison Government has shown – once again –– that it is focused on handing out jobs to Liberal mates rather than on creating jobs for ordinary Australians.
Since 2013 the Liberals have appointed more than 70 of their mates to lucrative jobs on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, where full-time senior members are paid over $380,000 a year and even junior members are paid at least $190,000.
These appointments include failed Liberal Party candidates, dumped Liberal Party MPs and former Liberal advisers. Christian Porter is so brazen that he appointed one of his senior advisers to the Tribunal – less than one week after the adviser resigned from Mr Porter’s office.
The stacking of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal with Liberal mates has got so out of hand that former High Court judge, Ian Callinan QC, had to actually recommend all further appointments should be on the basis of merit.
The contrast with the record of the last Labor Government could not be starker. The only two Labor-linked appointments to the AAT in the six years of Labor Governments between 2007 and 2013 were experienced and highly skilled lawyers whose appointments were welcomed by the then-Liberal Opposition.
While other Australians struggle to find work, Liberal mates are being looked after in unprecedented numbers, undermining the work of the supposedly independent tribunal tasked with reviewing Government decisions.
With a record like this, it is no wonder that the Morrison Government continues to show no interest in integrity or fighting corruption.
The ever-growing list of scandals surrounding the Morrison Government shows why Australia needs a powerful and independent Audit Office, and a powerful and independent National Integrity Commission – and why Mr Morrison and his colleagues will do everything in their power to crush both of them.
MONDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2020
