{"id":7682,"date":"2020-08-12T06:13:45","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T06:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=7682"},"modified":"2020-08-12T06:13:45","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T06:13:45","slug":"major-parties-reject-the-need-for-parliamentary-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/08\/12\/major-parties-reject-the-need-for-parliamentary-standards\/","title":{"rendered":"Major parties reject the need for parliamentary standards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the conduct of politicians having declined year on year and public confidence in democracy bottoming out, both major parties have rejected the need for binding, independently enforced parliamentary standards proposed by the Greens.
\nResponding to today\u2019s bipartisan recommendation of the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee to oppose the Greens Parliamentary Standards Bill introduced in October 2019, Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson on democracy, Senator Larissa Waters said:
\n\u201cWith scandal after scandal and regular poor behaviour, the public generally thinks politicians are all corrupt, in it for themselves, and behave like pork chops in parliament.
\n\u201cWith parliamentary sittings due to resume shortly, sadly we clearly need stronger, independently enforced standards that apply to all parliamentarians and their senior staff to act with integrity, avoid conflicts of interest, and use resources in the public interest.
\n\u201cIn recommending this bill not be passed, the major parties have failed the test of whether they want to set an example for the public and help to end corruption and restore public trust in democracy, rather than act like spoilt toddlers.
\n\u201cAlarming levels of disrespect had been allowed to flourish in parliament, from corruption and selfish opportunism to appalling behaviour that would not be tolerated in any other workplace.
\n\u201cPauline Hanson wearing a burqa in the Australian senate as part of a political stunt, Fraser Anning talking about the \u2018final solution\u2019 in his maiden speech, James McGrath threatening to leak my address on national television last year \u2013 all show how desperately needed parliamentary standards are.
\n\u201cThe existing Ministerial Standards are weak, opaque, and enforced completely at the Prime Minister\u2019s discretion \u2013 it\u2019s not good enough. Those standards have not deterred the litany of questionable behaviour by Ministers, both in and out of the chamber.
\n\u201cParliamentarians have a duty to serve and to represent, and should set a good example \u2013 if people in such positions of leadership can be openly sexist, homophobic, and corrupt, what kind of license does that give the rest of the country?\u201d Senator Waters concluded.
\nAdditional Information<\/strong>
\nThe report, including the Greens dissenting remarks, is available here:\u00a0https:\/\/parlinfo.aph.gov.au\/parlInfo\/search\/display\/display.w3p;query%3DId%3A%22publications%2Ftabledpapers%2Fabcd6bf1-160f-4476-89d2-50ec04e594ec%22<\/a>
\nThe Greens bill requires all politicians to respect others, to avoid conflicts of interest, to act with integrity, and to ensure that power and public resources are always used in the public interest.
\nIt would establish a new independent enforcement agent with teeth, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, who can investigate breaches of the code of conduct and take action when politicians\u2019 behaviour fails to meet public expectations.
\nFor serious allegations, the new Public Standards Commissioner could refer the matter to the Greens proposed National Integrity Commission for a more comprehensive investigation.
\nThe bill also sets out a process to review and strengthen existing standards for lobbying, post-parliamentary employment, political donations, and campaign financing.
\nIn their additional remarks, the ALP did again voice its support for a federal ICAC; the Greens\u2019 bill for a federal ICAC passed the Senate with Labor\u2019s support almost a year ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the conduct of politicians having declined year on year and public confidence in democracy bottoming out, both major parties have rejected the need for binding, independently enforced parliamentary standards proposed by the Greens. Responding to today\u2019s bipartisan recommendation of the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee to oppose the Greens Parliamentary Standards Bill introduced … Continue reading “Major parties reject the need for parliamentary standards”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}