MARK DREYFUS
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
SPORTS RORTS SHOWS WE NEED A NATIONAL INTEGRITY COMMISSION NOW
The Morrison Government's desperate attempts to cover up its blatant misuse of taxpayer funds for its 2019 election campaign has graphically demonstrated why Australia urgently needs a powerful and independent National Integrity Commission.
The Attorney-General Christian Porter has demonstrated the Morrison Governments lack of integrity by failing to meet his own deadline for a National Integrity Commission.
As experts have pointed out, the Sports Rorts affair demonstrates why Mr Morrison has been so reluctant to subject his Government to a powerful and transparent National Integrity Commission.
HARRIS: The Coalition Government has been very shy about having an anti-corruption body and we could see why. This would have been referred to it in an instant had it existed.
Former NSW Auditor-General Tony Harris, ABC TV, 3 February 2020
Its now been 13 months since the Prime Minister and Attorney-General were dragged, kicking and screaming, to even concede that a National Integrity Commission should be established.
At that time, Mr Morrison insisted work had already been underway on the proposal since January meaning it has now been over two years since the Government claims to have started working on a Commonwealth Integrity Commission.
Yet all the Morrison Government could put forward was a proposal for an integrity commission so weak and so ineffective it was derided by legal experts as a sham designed to hide government corruption rather than to expose it.
The scandals surrounding Angus Taylor and Bridget McKenzie are yet further evidence that Australia needs a powerful and transparent National Integrity Commission and why the Prime Minister and Attorney-General are so determined to delay any action to bring one about.
And the Australian public has not forgotten that over its six years in office, this government has also overseen:
- Choppergate;
- Minister Michaela Cash's refusal to cooperate with an AFP investigation;
- The awarding of lucrative government contracts by Mr Dutton's department to questionable companies like Paladin;
and for an array of other failures of integrity and accountability that have contributed to Australia's slide in global corruption rankings since the Coalition came to power in 2013.
And these are just a few of the scandals that we know about. What else would an independent National Integrity Commission uncover?
Unlike the Morrison Government, Labor believes tackling corruption and promoting integrity is essential to restoring public trust in government.
MONDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 2020
