Senator David Pocock is not at all impressed with Labor’s response to Senate orders; Labor isn’t impressed it will have to answer more questions in the Senate. Photo: Region.
Independent ACT Senator David Pocock has manoeuvred a clever play to force the Federal Government into releasing a report into Labor’s “jobs for mates” appointments.
Gaining support from the Coalition and the Greens on Wednesday (29 October), Senator Pocock successfully moved a motion that will require government ministers to answer five extra questions from non-government Senators each question time until the report is made public.
Former public service commissioner Lynelle Briggs delivered her report to the government in August 2023, but it has not been released or its findings made public.
Two years on, and after persistent attempts to get the report tabled, Senator Pocock has had enough – and so it seems has most of the non-Labor side of the Senate.
The Senate has previously ordered the government to cough up the report, but Labor has so far ignored the order.
Even though Labor commissioned the report as part of its “integrity” push, Cabinet confidentiality has been the excuse offered for withholding it.
Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher, who received the report, keeps saying she will release it once Cabinet has finished its “deliberations” over it.
In frustration, the Senate voted on Wednesday to change the question time processes until the report is tabled.
In fiery exchanges across the chamber, Senator Gallagher accused Senator Pocock of trying to tear up Senate conventions while reiterating that the report will eventually be released.
Senator Pocock said the government could not keep ignoring a Senate order to table the report, and a majority of the Senate agreed.
The outcome is that the Opposition, the Greens and the independents in the Upper House will now get a collective extra five shots at government Ministers each Senate Question Time.
“Despite promising more transparency, for two-plus years, the government has kept secret the Briggs review of public sector board appointments,” Senator Pocock subsequently said.
“The culture of jobs for mates has to end, and we need transparency to make that happen.
“If they won’t be transparent, the Senate will force the issue.”
The move has outraged the government, and it immediately threatened to kick Opposition MPs from senior positions in the House of Representatives (where Labor has the numbers to do whatever it wants).
A showdown is set for Senate Question Time today (30 October) when the new regime of extra questions kicks in.
Shadow finance and public service minister James Paterson has described the government’s reaction to the move as petulant and authoritarian.
“We’ve seen an utterly extraordinary and petulant response from the Albanese government … in response to their failure to adhere to Orders of the Production of Documents (OPDs) by the Senate,” he said.
“Independent integrity groups, like the Centre for Public Integrity, have found that this government is the least transparent in decades when it comes to complying with Orders for Production of Documents and FoI.
“And so the Senate, the entire crossbench and the Coalition voted together to require the government to answer more questions in question time until they start complying with OPDs.
“The government’s response is more like that of a petty authoritarian government than a democratic one.
“They’re saying they’re going to strip deputy chair committee positions from the Opposition in the House of Representatives.
“That’s an extraordinary response, and not one that a democratic government should engage in. What the government should be doing is complying with the orders of the Senate.
“They should be a transparent government, as they’ve promised they would be, but they’ve been anything but.”
Environment Minister Murray Watt, who plays a senior role in the Senate, was particularly scathing of Senator Pocock and his move to extend question time.
“What David Pocock did yesterday, with the support of the Coalition and the Greens, was upend decades of Senate tradition and procedure in a grab for power,” Senator Murray said.
“David Pocock was always in here lecturing the rest of us about the importance of Senate tradition and Senate convention, and he’s just gone and chucked the toys out.”
On Thursday morning, Senator Pocock showed no signs of backing down, telling reporters at Parliament House the government’s behaviour was appalling.
“We’ve seen a flat-out refusal to release a document that they said would be released, that I think is really important and in the public interest,” he said.
“You know, jobs for mates is a real problem in this place … We’re ratcheting up the pressure until they release it.”
Labor Senators began their day in the Senate by repeatedly leaving the chamber during Opposition speeches, then forcing interruptions by calling for a quorum.
