MARK DREYFUS
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
MORRISON GOVERNMENT HAS NO INTEREST IN INTEGRITY OR ACCOUNTABILITY, PORTER CONFIRMS
The Attorney-General today confirmed the Morrison Government has no interest in integrity or fighting corruption and his pre-election commitment to an integrity commission was a lie.
In December 2018 Mr Porter and Mr Morrison claimed to have been working on “a robust, resourced, real system that will protect the integrity of Commonwealth and public administration” since January 2018.
Today, almost three years later, they still haven’t even produced a draft bill, despite promising to do so before the end of 2019.
That commitment was always a sham. The integrity commission promised by Mr Morrison and Mr Porter was so weak, ineffective and opaque it was unable to instigate independent inquiries, to hold public hearings, or even investigate any of the multiple past scandals of the Morrison Government.
Now, Mr Porter has confirmed what’s been obvious to even the most casual observer - the Morrison Government has no integrity and is doing everything in its power to stop corruption being exposed.
Despite sports rorts, the airport land scandal, Angus Taylor’s role in grassgate and the forged letter affair and the biggest spending budget in history, Mr Porter has declared that for the Morrison Government, an anti-corruption commission is “not a priority.”
Queensland LNP Senator Gerard Rennick was more honest about what Mr Porter was really saying when he stated “No, we don’t support an integrity commission”.
Mr Porter’s admission comes just days after the Morrison Government used the cover of COVID19 to undermine the Auditor-General who exposed the Government’s rorts and waste by financially crippling the Australian National Audit Office in the 2020 Budget.
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.
WEDNESDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2020
