Ministers of State Amendment

“The immediate thing we're debating here today is a very important piece of legislation to remedy a breach in practice that I believe was completely unnecessary and egregious. It's a reflection of a previous government that acted in that manner in so many other ways—in delaying the national anticorruption commission and in the way it allocated funds. This bill is very important, and it's critical that this government continues to build on integrity in government to improve the way in which government operates for the sake of all.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“I'm proud to be part of a government that is bringing integrity back to this matter; I'm proud that, when we found out about this outrageous breach of Westminster convention, it was referred for a proper, thorough inquiry; and I'm proud that we have acted by bringing this legislation, which I urge every member—whatever your political stripes—to vote for.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 20 Mar 2023

“Lastly, I could note many contributions in this place on the Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022 but I would like to take particular note of the brief contribution made by the member for Hume. That very succinct statement made on this bill gives me a bit of hope. It is indeed my hope that, although I did not hear full-throated support of the bill, I did hear support—a bit lukewarm, but it was supportive nevertheless. Just as with the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the public will see a new page turned by our democratic institutions with the support of all sides of politics, particularly the two parties of government. I would encourage all members of this place to support this bill and take one further step forward to restoring public confidence in government, for, with the passage of this bill, the chapter we move on from cannot be repeated. I thank the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 13 Feb 2023

“That's why we're committed to this legislation. It will fall to us—the Labor Party—to uphold the virtue of those institutions and the parliament, so that there is proper recourse and accountability, and we proudly do that because we believe in all those values and we fight for all those values. I certainly commend this bill to the House. It is very important. It will ensure that a person cannot ever again garner powers without that adequate and warranted accountability to the Australian people, to the Australian parliament and to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“This legislation is important because of what the member for Cook did. It's sad we've got to do it, but it's a matter of necessity and I support it.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“The advice of the Solicitor-General was damning. Between March 2020 and May 2021, the member was Cook was appointed by the Governor-General to administer no less than five departments: Health; Finance; Industry, Science, Energy and Resources; Treasury; and Home Affairs. These are your big-ticket items here in parliament, and the actual ministers appointed had no idea—not a clue. His cabinet had no idea. It turns out the former member for Tangney knew; he got the secret prize of Home Affairs. Who else that remains in this place knew that the leader of the coalition was misleading his cabinet, misleading his party room and, most importantly, misleading the Australian people? He said that it was because of the extraordinary times and that the pandemic created the obstacles where, indeed, this was justified. I say to you: there are no circumstances that justify deception. They were indeed extraordinary times, and if indeed it was so necessary for him to take on those additional roles the people of Australia would have understood. He should have been straight with us. He should have been straight with his own people. Sadly, that was not the case.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“This legislation is just one part of the Albanese government's commitment to respond to Justice Bell's Inquiry into the Appointment of the Former Prime Minister to Administer Multiple Departments. This legislation is just one part of our commitment to the Australian people to safeguard our democracy and to ensure that the people of Australia can stand proud in their trust in this place. We understand that democracy is precious, and we understand that when it is challenged, as it was by the member for Cook, it needs to be defended. We know that we must restore trust in and integrity to politics, and this bill, in the timely manner in which it has come to this place, shows our commitment to achieving just that.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 09 Feb 2023

“I would encourage all members in this place to support this bill to take one further step to restore public confidence in government.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“The introduction of this bill shows that the Albanese government is delivering on its promise to restore trust and integrity to federal politics. The measures in the bill will help restore integrity and transparency in the process of appointing elected officials to high office and ensure that we have a system of government where there are checks and balances. Never let anyone have too much power. Never again will one person be able to garner powers without adequate and warranted accountability, both to the Australian people and, more importantly, to the Australian parliament, where their representatives sit.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“The bill requires the Official Secretary to the Governor-General to publish a notifiable instrument registered on the Federal Register of Legislation as soon as reasonably practicable—not months later or only when FOI documents are revealed or only when someone tells it to a journalist for a book that's going to be published.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“This legislation is one part of the Albanese government's response to Justice Bell's inquiry. It will end the possibility of Australians not knowing who runs their government.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 08 Feb 2023

“But let's look at the bill itself. This bill will make law the recommendations of the Bell inquiry. It merely requires public notice to be given in various ways about who is minister for what and for when. It's a simple bill for an act that seems to do very little. Someone wandering in from the street might look at it and say, 'Why do you even need a law to do that?' Well, for 120 years we didn't. For 120 years we had managed to get by with prime ministers who had enough knowledge of and respect for the institutions and conventions of government in this country that we didn't need such a law. Now, unfortunately, we do need it. I support the bill. For 120 years we have managed to get by with prime ministers who had enough knowledge of and respect for the institutions and conventions of government in this country, and we didn't need such a law. Now, unfortunately, we do need it. I support the bill.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 09 Mar 2023

“These amendments that the Labor government is introducing are essential to restoring trust in government. They ensure that the Australian people are able to access information in relation to the composition of the Federal Executive Council, those who have been appointed to administer certain departments of state, and the high offices that ministers of state hold.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 20 Mar 2023

“In my electorate of Swan, time and time again people have been telling me that the minimum requirement for being a member of parliament is integrity, principles. I think it's extraordinary that we have this bill where we need to actually look at this. Under the previous Liberal government, there were no actions on a national anticorruption commission. There was not a draft bill. Legislation was not introduced to the House. They were asleep at the wheel. The substance of this bill is making sure that we have a parliament that we can trust, a democracy that we can believe in and a democracy that we can have for future generations.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“It is a sad day in this country that this bill is required to make sure that future elected officials abide by long-standing and honoured conventions, yet here we are. Along with the National Anticorruption Commission, this bill aims to start to fix the loss of trust the Australian public has with elected officials, and to fix the lack of accountability we saw in the last government. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 06 Mar 2023

“That is why this bill is so important. It will implement reforms to provide greater transparency and accountability at the Commonwealth level of government. It will stop things like the rorting of sports grants and the rorting of grants intended for flood relief et cetera during previous natural disasters.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 09 Feb 2023

“I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 15 Feb 2023

“I wish there had been no need for this bill—obviously, everyone does—but there clearly is a need, so I commend this bill to the House and welcome this reform that will strengthen transparency and good governance, no matter the government of the day. Crucially, this bill will also help to restore citizens' trust in government from the dangerously low levels we have seen. Earlier in my contribution I went through that slide in trust in government that we've seen in the last decade.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 09 Feb 2023

“I hope the conservatives will join us in supporting this bill and saying that the undemocratic, secretive power grabs of the former prime minister, coming in this place and abusing the very institution that we are all proud to be a part of, should absolutely never happen again. I commend this bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 13 Feb 2023

“The Ministers of State Amendment Bill will go a long way to restoring that trust. It is important for my electorate of Pearce that I speak on this bill. The Ministers of State Amendment Bill provides for greater transparency and accountability in Commonwealth administration, something Australians want and deserve.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“Those wrongs will be righted when this legislation passes the House and laws will be put into place to ensure that this sorry saga can't be repeated by any prime minister in Australia's future.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 15 Feb 2023

“This government wants to put Australia democracy on a much healthier and higher quality foundation. We're doing that with this bill—which shouldn't really need to be passed—to simply make it crystal clear, particularly to those opposite, that Australians are entitled to expect accountability and transparency from their government. We've done it with the National Anti-Corruption Commission, and we'll continue to do it through the leadership and conduct of the Albanese Labor government.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“That is why this bill is so important, and I'm pleased to join so many of my colleagues not only in committing to vote for the Ministers of State Amendment Bill but in placing on the record my very serious view about the need for this bill. Perhaps we shouldn't see the need for such a bill. Perhaps it's understandable that, over the course of the 120-odd years of our Commonwealth parliamentary democracy, no-one previously thought that it could be required, because it is absolutely extraordinary that a prime minister would commission, or cause to be commissioned, ministers into office without informing the public, without informing his colleagues around the cabinet table and without informing the parliament.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“We are doing this to fulfil Labor's promise to make parliament and all politicians more accountable to the people who give us our jobs. This is just one of the many initiatives and pieces of legislation we are introducing after making a policy of transparency and accountability a key element of our promise to the Australian people. I know this is important to Australians, especially to constituents of our electorate of McEwen. From community meetings to chats on polling booths, to conversations I have when I just pop down the shop, I know integrity in government is something that is at the forefront of people's minds. This bill will not only work to increase transparency and accountability to the Australian public but it will prevent people from using their ministerial positions as Pokemon cards, when they try and collect them all. I'll leave the debate with one of my favourite Irish sayings: anything that keeps a politician humble is healthy for democracy. We should all take that to heart, and that is why I proudly support this bill.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 14 Feb 2023

“This piece of legislation, which surely no-one ever contemplated should be needed in this country, goes towards dealing with that embarrassing undermining of democracy episode in Australia's history. I personally think it's inconceivable that it could ever happen again, even without this legislation. Surely we couldn't have another prime minister or another cabinet willing to accept this sort of behaviour, but this piece of legislation will ensure it—because honestly we didn't imagine it would happen in the first place, so who knows what they would do if they ever got their hands on the levers of power again.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 09 Feb 2023

“I say to members opposite that this legislation is before the House because we don't want to see a repeat of that. It's before the House to try and restore the confidence that the Australian people, I believe, have for almost a century had in the parliament. It's before the House because we want this parliament to operate with transparency and integrity. Quite frankly, it had done so for nearly a century, and all of those traditions and all of that confidence were lost because of the action of one single person, the former member for Cook, the Prime Minister at the time. I commend this legislation to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“This bill would mitigate a similar scenario in the future by ensuring that such decisions were made public. It is a bill that we hope the opposition will support, but that is despite the fact that the opposition leader has described the Bell inquiry as 'a witch-hunt'.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“In conclusion, we should never take our democracy for granted. We should never take trust in our institutions for granted. There are people who are fighting and dying around the world for those principles, for democracy—something that we enjoy here in Australia. The former Prime Minister's actions diminished integrity and trust in our system. That's why we are taking action.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“Thankfully, we now have a government that prioritises transparency and accountability. This bill delivers on the commitment to ensure that we have transparency and accountability in our decision-making, particularly when it comes to who is administering government on behalf of the Australian people. In the future, because of this reform, the Australian people will always know who has been sworn in as a minister of state and who is administering government departments on their behalf.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“To those opposite, I say: back this bill. It will show that you don't endorse the actions of the former Prime Minister, who trashed our institutional norms. It will show you support our democracy and its institutions. Thank you.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 09 Mar 2023

“Unlike the mess and mismanagement of the former government, this side of the chamber is getting on with the job of fixing the problems by investing in the skills that are needed for our future prosperity. The bill that is before us shows the government is delivering on its promises to the Australian people, promises that were made to restore trust and integrity to federal politics.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“This bill demonstrates the government's readiness to act promptly to restore the Australian people's confidence in our federal system of government and to rebuild integrity into public sector institutions and processes and its officials.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 20 Mar 2023

“This bill is an important step, an important part of our government's response to the Bell inquiry, to ensure this never happens again. Essentially this bill will mean that when the Governor-General has appointed someone to a portfolio or made a change to that or revoked one of those positions this will be made public as soon as possible.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 15 Feb 2023

“Our government is committed to upholding these values and I am proud to support this legislation.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“The introduction of this bill shows the government is delivering on its promise to restore trust and integrity to federal politics, the centrepiece of which is the recent introduction of legislation for a powerful, transparent and independent national anticorruption commission. The measures in this bill will go some way to provide greater integrity and transparency around the process of appointing elected officials to high office, especially to ensure that we have a system of government where there are real checks and balances and where one person cannot gain powers without adequate and warranted accountability to the Australian people and the Australian parliament. I am really pleased and proud to support this bill.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 08 Feb 2023

“I commend this bill to the House and encourage all members who have basic respect for the Australian people to support it too.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 20 Mar 2023

“This bill will restore the checks and balances that our system relies on. It will ensure that one person cannot acquire power without any accountability or responsibility. The Australian people should not find out about the undermining of our political system in a book published two years later. The Albanese government is focused on restoring trust and integrity to politics. This bill, like the National Anti-Corruption Commission legislation, seeks to help the Australian people regain lost trust in all of its governments—the trust that has been significantly eroded in recent years.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 14 Feb 2023

“This legislation highlights the Albanese Labor government's commitment to delivering on an election promise to restore trust and integrity within our federal parliament and within our community. The foundation of this restoration was the recent legislation of a powerful, transparent and independent National Anti-Corruption Commission. The measures in the bill will go some of the way to providing greater integrity and transparency around the process of appointing elected officials to high office; and especially to ensure that we have a system of government where there are checks and balances, a system of government where one person cannot again garner powers without adequate and warranted accountability to the Australian people and the Australian parliament. So I say again: integrity, accountability and transparency are vital in this place.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 08 Feb 2023

“I commend the Albanese Labor government on taking the inquiry's recommendations forward. The Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022 forms one part of the government's response to Ms Bell's recommendations. Specifically, this bill puts an end to secret ministries and to the practice of dishonesty. It marks the start of a new era and a new approach to government—one defined by transparency, accountability and a commitment to democracy.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 13 Feb 2023

“With this legislation we work to be worthy of all that by ensuring there will never, ever be a repeat or a sequel of this corrosive, undemocratic action. We have, in this government, a system of Westminster that it is derived from. We also have a cabinet system of government where the prime minister has often been described as the first among equals. But the prime minister of the day is not above the cabinet process and is not above the parliament or accountability. That is why this legislation is important—not because I think there will be someone who will come along and think that it's a good idea to appoint themselves to multiple ministries without telling anyone but because we thought that would never happen in the first place. That is why we need this legislation—to provide that assurance to the Australian people that it will indeed never happen again. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 19 June 2023

“It is vitally important that this get fixed, and I am pleased that this is the bill that will do it.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 21 Mar 2023

“This bill shows that the government is delivering on its promises to restore the Australian people's confidence in our federal system of government. I welcome the implementation of the first six recommendations from the Bell inquiry. Our democracy is precious. We must protect it together.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 23 Mar 2023

“The Government has accepted all of Ms Bell's recommendations and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been directed to implement them. Introduction of this Bill is part of that task.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 19 June 2023

“I am proud to stand here today and speak on ways in which the Albanese government is strengthening integrity measures in government. This bill will implement reforms to provide greater transparency for the administration of our Commonwealth departments. It will ensure that there is clarity as to who is governing our departments of state and who is sworn in to administer departments. It will address the loopholes that the member for Cook so blatantly abused. Critically, this bill will also ensure that information on the governance of our country will be available for all Australians to find, as it should be. But, most importantly, this bill, as part of a broader suite of measures, will go some way in restoring people's sense of parliament as a trusted institution. None of us can do our jobs if our communities do not trust us, and so we must do all that we can do of what is needed to safeguard our democracy. I commend this bill.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 13 Feb 2023

“The actions that we are taking today seek to strengthen our democracy and its foundations. The member for Cook, by his actions in appointing himself to a number of portfolios in secret, displayed a contempt for this place and its role, and that's been canvassed fully.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 13 Feb 2023

“The opposition supports this bill. The opposition will always support sensible legislation that is put before this chamber, and it will in this case. Consistent with recommendation 1 of the Bell inquiry, the legislation requires the making of a notifiable instrument as soon as practicable after the Governor-General chooses, summons and swears in or revokes the membership of an executive councillor under section 62 of the Constitution; appoints or revokes the appointment of an officer to administer a department of state under section 64 of the Constitution; and directs that a minister of state hold an office under section 65 of the Constitution or revokes such a direction. I commend this bill to the House.”

Liberal Party • MP • 08 Feb 2023