2021-07-27
The Greens say Australia can have a robust and effective federal anti-corruption framework in place within weeks if the government brings the Greens’ bill on for debate in the House.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:
“How can we be sure there’s an election coming? Both the Libs and Labor are talking about a federal anti-corruption body again!
“The Greens have been pushing for a federal corruption watchdog for over a decade, and we’ve even done the hard work of drafting a bill -- a bill that passed the Senate, with Labor’s support, nearly two years ago.
“The government could have listed our bill for debate in the House at any time in the past two years but they’ve chosen not to. And it’s been nearly three years since they announced their own bill, over two years since they said the bill was 'imminent', and six months since the second round of consultation on their sham proposal closed. So you’ll forgive me for remaining highly dubious about the Attorney-General’s claim that they’ll introduce their own legislation later this year.
“If the PM was serious about cleaning up politics and restoring confidence in our democracy he would bring on the Green’s National Integrity Commission Bill when parliament sits again next week.
“That means we could have an anti-corruption framework within weeks. Why wait?”