House of Representatives Date: 4 November 2025
Speaker:
Is the motion seconded?
Andrew Wallace MP:
I second the motion, Mr Speaker.
The House of Representatives is the pre-eminent debating forum in this country, and on an issue that is as important as government accountability and transparency, I would have thought that this government would relish the opportunity to have the debate in this chamber.
I have had the privilege of serving in this place for nine years, mostly on that side of the House rather than this side, and I had the opportunity for six of those nine years to watch the Leader of the House go from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1 over issues around transparency and accountability.
In fact, no one does DEFCON 1 like the Leader of the House.
The issue of government transparency and accountability was, according to those members opposite, one of their principal tenets, one of their principal pillars. I sat there and listened to speech after speech about how important it is to ensure that we have accountability in this place.
So you can only imagine my great surprise, when the chamber has an opportunity to debate a bill that talks about significantly altering the Freedom of Information Act, about significantly watering down the powers of the people to hold their government to account, that this government wants to send it off to the Federation Chamber, where none of you folk in the gallery will get an opportunity to look at it or listen to it.
The students up there all want this matter debated in the House of Representatives, because this is the pre-eminent forum in this country.
Where the government consistently banged on for years about the importance of honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability, what do we get? We get the Leader of the House moving a motion to squirrel it away to the Federation Chamber.
And I say, even though it is his birthday, shame on him.
I say to the Leader of the House, based on the previous speech and mine, I think we are getting to you. I know, deep down, that the Leader of the House has some modicum of respect for executive accountability. The concept of executive accountability is one of our fundamental tenets.
(Interjection – Mr Burns: “Is this an audition for leader? Has he had a haircut as well?”)
Andrew Wallace MP: I take that interjection from the Member for Macnamara.
(Interjection – Mr Taylor: “He’s good, that’s it, it’s in Hansard!”)
Andrew Wallace MP: And I hope he is in his correct seat, but I do not think he is.
This is an incredibly important issue. I will speak to the substance of the bill very shortly, and I encourage everybody to hang around for a few moments afterwards.
But I implore the Leader of the House to let the sunshine in. This chamber has a skylight, and the best form of disinfectant is sunlight.
The Leader of the House might notice that the Federation Chamber does not have a skylight.
The House of Representatives will let the sun in and hold to account, it is a sign, it is a metaphor, the executive and this hopeless, arrogant government that would try to introduce a bill that would lessen accountability yet squirrel it away to the Federation Chamber.
For all those people who are listening on their radios, tuning in right now, I ask this question: have you ever even heard of the Federation Chamber? Most Australians will never have heard of the Federation Chamber.
They want this debate heard right here today in the House of Representatives.
END
Media Contact: Brendan West – 0402 556 646 – Brendan.west@aph.gov.au
