Extract from ABC News
Federal Labor has promised a vote on a national integrity commission by the end of this year if it wins the federal election.
Key points:
- Anthony Albanese says a national anti-corruption commission would be a priority if elected
- The Opposition Leader says Scott Morrison has no intention of honouring promise to deliver national anti-corruption commission
- Mr Morrison says a bill was not introduced due to Labor opposition, despite the Coalition's lower-house majority
The federal opposition has long campaigned for the anti-corruption body and attacked the Coalition for not introducing one, but its timeline for introducing one has been unclear until now.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced plans for a commission in December 2018, but legislation was not introduced to parliament for a vote, with disagreement on what powers and scope the body should have.
In a statement, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said "Australians have waited more than 1,200 days for the national integrity commission to be introduced to parliament".
"I am proud to announce that a national anti-corruption commission would be one of the first priorities of a government I lead," Mr Albanese said.
The Prime Minister has not matched Labor's commitment to establish a national anti-corruption commission by the end of the year.
The commission was first announced by Mr Morrison in December 2018, but no legislation has been introduced for a vote.
Mr Morrison says that won't happen until he's confident of bipartisan support.
Mr Morrison confirmed the Coalition would stick with its current model and not introduce legislation to parliament unless it was clear Labor supported it, despite having had a majority in the House of Representatives.
"At the last election we said we would seek to put one in place," Mr Morrison said.
"We developed a policy, developed detailed legislation, the Labor Party didn't agree with it, and at this election, you have a very clear and detailed policy when it comes to how we want to progress with that issue."
PM claims Labor opposition to bill
On the campaign trail this week, Mr Morrison repeated his position that the bill was not introduced into parliament because Labor was opposed to it, despite the Coalition having a majority in the lower house.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly said he has "tabled" the legislation in the House of Representatives, a process that merely puts it on the parliamentary record, rather than kickstarting debate on its merits.
"On many pieces of legislation, I don't go through theatrical exercises in the parliament," the Prime Minister said.
It is understood Labor would seek to legislate a national integrity commission even if the Coalition did not support the proposed model.
Labor has previously voiced support for an integrity commission looking into actions taken by earlier governments.
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has previously highlighted the "sports rorts" scandal as worthy of referral to a national integrity commission.
Labor's campaign spokesman, Jason Clare, repeated those comments on Saturday.
"Think about all the scandals we have seen from this government, the reporting of $100 million of taxpayers' money with sports rorts, the allocation of money for car parks at railway stations that don't exist," Mr Clare told News Breakfast.
He said a watchdog would need powers to weed out potential corruption in all political parties.
It needs to look across the board. I am not afraid of that," he said.
"The best commissions look at whether it is Labor or Liberal.
"People who are watching this want trust and integrity brought back into politics."
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