2024-10-04
By Barbara Pocock
Senator for South Australia
2024 has been a year of getting serious traction as we deliver wins that are already improving the lives of so many Australians.
Public Sector - KEEPING THE PRESSURE ON, the truth is coming out
After 14 months, the inquiry into management and assurance of integrity by consulting services handed down its final report in June. The report tells a story of an unethical shadow privatised public service with no accountability. Although the recommendations on how to fix this broken system are way too weak, I will keep pushing for genuine meaningful action as set out in our alternative report, like:
- Capping private consultant spending by 15% annually and boosting investment in the public sector.
- Forcing partnerships with over 100 partners to operate within the Corporations Act.
- Banning dodgy political donations from private consultancy firms and anyone bidding for government contracts.
- Enforcing structural separation between audit and non-audit services to protect confidential data.
We’ve heard so much about the gross inadequacies of the current regulatory framework, but more problems seem to be discovered at every turn. Serious examples of inappropriate practices include senior tax officers pressuring the Tax Practitioners Board to go easy on PwC over the tax leaks scandal, a revolving door between the Australian Taxation Office and the Big 4, and KPMG’s power maps which are used to influence public servants in procuring government contracts despite being repeatedly assured by the KPMG CEO that they do not exist.
The PwC tax scandal highlighted the need to implement stronger obligations on tax agents to make sure these dodgy underhanded practices never happen again. My team and I have been listening to stakeholders carefully to ensure that the tax agent code of conduct changes are effective and workable. Compliance with the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024, which sets out additional professional and ethical obligations for tax agents, will now commence from next year.
I want to extend a big thank you to all the insiders and informants, my incredible staff, our volunteers, and everyone who was involved in this pursuit of integrity and governance inside big consultant firms. But it doesn’t end there. I’m currently working on another inquiry looking into the ethics and professional accountability of the consultancy industry, and I will continue to fight for the changes we need to stop the irresponsible outsourcing of APS work in our fight to restore our public service. We need serious transparency and accountability, a whole-of-sector restructure, and strong independent regulation.
Employment – We have the right to disconnect!
Following months of negotiations with the government and the crossbench, we Greens secured a legislated right to disconnect for workers! This win allows workers to ignore contact from their employers outside of work hours unless they are paid for it.
The amendments to the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Bill 2023 have given employees an enforceable right to refuse contact from their employer out of hours unless that refusal is unreasonable. This right is set to make a real difference for millions of Australian workers and their families who need some backup when they want to say no to 24/7 contact from their workplace. It protects mental health and improves work-life balance, especially for those in insecure jobs.
But there is still so much to do. The latest Workplace Gender Equality Agency wages data revealed that on average, women working in companies with more than 100 staff are earning roughly 20 per cent less than men, with Banking and Professional Services having some of the worst gaps. Women deserve pay equity, across industries, and shouldn’t be punished in their pay packets for combining care for others with their jobs. We are lucky they do the work they do, and I will continue to highlight this inequity in my work.
It is also becoming clear that Australians are keen to trial a four-day work week, which was a recommendation of my Select Committee into Work and Care. The Government needs to listen and undertake a four-day work week trial. Another important recommendation was for casual workers to have paid leave. Currently, a quarter of our Australian workforce do not receive a single cent of paid leave, and this lack of security is unfair and damaging for people. I’m currently fighting for all casuals to have access to paid sick leave, holiday leave, and carers leave.
We know that shorter working hours and longer leave times reduce burnout and improve productivity. And we know the way to lift productivity is through businesses investing in new technology and staff training as well as improving workflows and creating a positive work environment which includes fair pay and the ability to have time away from work. As your spokesperson for Employment, I will continue to push for better workplace rights, improved pay, and more secure jobs.
Finance – we should have answers
Senate Estimates are a critical aspect of the Australian parliamentary system, particularly for holding the Government accountable and ensuring transparency in its operations. The primary purpose of Estimates is to scrutinise the expenditure, administration, and policies of government departments and agencies.
However, this year’s Estimates round saw another game of ‘dodge’ by Department representatives seeking to avoid answering questions. It is not good enough that many of the responses from government departments and agencies to questions at Senate Estimates seem to be deliberately contrived to conceal or obscure the information we are seeking on behalf of the Australian people. And it doesn't help when we find that the Prime Minister's Department has produced a cheat sheet that encourages obfuscation.
The public service should not push against the Senate. I won’t be deterred from doing what is required to keep the Government and its processes accountable.
In this year’s budget, Labor were patting themselves on the back over decisions that letdown Australians on so many fronts, condemning those worst off in our society to continued poverty, denying safety to women fleeing violence and locking in the burning of fossil fuels well past 2050. Labor’s budget gives $14.5 billion in fossil fuel subsidies to coal & gas companies - an increase of 31% from last year. They have made the choice to spend billions of it on submarines and subsidising big corporations. We need a Budget that drives us away from the climate crisis, not towards it.
Tibet – we will not be silenced
It has been an honour to take on Janet’s role of Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet and I will continue her advocacy for the Tibetan-Australian community and the fight for the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people.
Millions of Tibetans in Tibet are living in oppression, unable to speak out or protest the occupation of Tibet without fear of arrest and torture. I have heard about the devastating impact of China’s colonial-style boarding schools increasingly appearing in Tibet. Conservative estimates based on official figures suggest that at least 800,000 Tibetan children (78%) are now housed in these state run institutions with limited opportunities to visit home. It is also reported that from 2015 to 2020, over 2.8 million farmers and herdsmen in Tibet were ‘transferred’ from the agricultural sector to the manufacturing and services sectors in urban areas, without a genuine option for people to refuse the transfer. I am looking forward to raising Tibetan voices and human rights for all in our Parliament and showing our solidarity on the global stage.
South Australia
Back in Adelaide I have spoken out about the genocide at our Palestinian rallies and relayed the promise that we Greens will continue to take people’s protests to federal parliament, to call for a ceasefire and to call for the prosecution of war crimes. I have also spoken in the Senate to add my voice to call on the Government to take genuine action to stop the arms trade with Israel.
It has been a tough time for the Greens as we endure false and defamatory attacks from the Government and Murdoch Media. Nevertheless, we will not stop calling for Labor to take action against the Israeli Government’s invasion of Gaza. We can and will rigorously reject all forms of anti-Semitism while opposing the genocide in Palestine.
It has also been a worrying time in SA with the South Australian Labor Government backing nuclear waste for our state and we are once again walking a knife-edge between a clean green energy future and the poisonous legacy of nuclear waste. I have spoken in the Senate on the Defence Amendment (Safeguarding Australia's Military Secrets) Bill and the Defence Trade Controls Amendment Bill and made it very clear that these bills seek to enable AUKUS and should be opposed.
No amount of PR spin from Labor will change the reality that AUKUS makes us less safe and guarantees a big nuclear waste problem. Our Federal and State governments are congratulating themselves on SA’s Osborne being selected as the future build site for AUKUS, but there is still no word on the logistics of this multi-billion-dollar concept, including where they plan to store the radioactive waste. I will keep on highlighting the unsafe and unworkable reality of a local nuclear industry in SA and Australia.
Thank you to all Greens members, staff and supporters across the country for your continued efforts to secure a safe, bright and sustainable future for all of us.
- Barbara