Senator ALLISON (Leader of the Australian Democrats) (10:38 AM) —Using that argument, you would get rid of the Senators’ Interests Committee and the obligation on senators to disclose their interest in this place. I think it is an extraordinary claim to make that all appointments are based on merit. I am sure that when you were in opposition, Senator Ellison, you joined with your party in criticising the Labor Party for its jobs for the boys, its appointment of mates. Likewise, we and Labor have criticised you, and I will not name names but this is a common accusation thrown at governments. I would have thought it was in the interests of the Liberal coalition to support this, because then you would have a defence. You would say: ‘No, it’s not just because this person was a great fundraiser for the Liberal Party. He was appointed’—usually it is a he—‘to the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman role because he fulfilled the requirements of the code which we’d established about selection.’

I am suggesting something which would be good not only for the parliament but also for the people of Australia: to know that people appointed to positions of great responsibility on large salaries are there on merit. You can assure us all you like about cabinet, how serious the deliberation was and how all the appointments were merit based, but we are not going to be convinced unless we can see the evidence of that. That is what this particular amendment is about.

It is terrific that Labor are agreeing to having a code for the appointment of senior positions like this. If they do not move the amendment when and if they are in office after the next election, then it will certainly be one of the first that we will put up to make sure that it is in the statutes. You will then be seen as having been left behind, Senator Ellison, because you resisted this. I understand that you even resisted the senators’ interests code, if we can call it that, whereby senators disclose pecuniary interests, so I think you are being left behind again. This is your chance to gazump the Labor Party; you could even claim that this was your initiative. This is a really good opportunity to demonstrate to the Australian people that you are serious about accountability, because, frankly, the record of the last few weeks has suggested otherwise.