The Greens say the Federal Parliament must move immediately to clean up Australian politics and will push for an urgent vote to establish a national anti-corruption authority.
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As matters before the New South Wales ICAC led to another cabinet reshuffle in that state on Tuesday, federal Greens Leader Christine Milne said “the corruption that’s been revealed in NSW doesn’t stop in that state”.
The Greens will push for a vote in budget week for the establishment of a national integrity commission to assess what Senator Milne described as a “revolving door” between political parties, political offices and big business.
Senator Milne said Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten had no excuse not to support the national ICAC.
“If they’re serious about cleaning up politics, this is the way to do it,” she said.
“We need to make sure that at the federal level, the same sorts of things emerging in NSW don’t occur.
“You’ve got a revolving door between business, between political offices, between political parties, a whole lot of money changing hands, a whole lot of slush funds being set up [and] nobody having any real insight into who is giving money to whom and for what.
“That is clearly something that corrupts the political process.”
Mr Abbott has promised to fight influence peddling in the Federal Parliament.
The Greens proposal calls for three new integrity officers: a national integrity commissioner, a law enforcement integrity commissioner and an independent parliamentary advisor.
“So come on Bill Shorten, come on Tony Abbott, step up, support the ICAC bill,” Senator Milne said.
“By the end of next week we could have legislation through the Parliament to support a national ICAC and if you’re not prepared to do it, explain to the Australian people why not.
“We need this more than ever now as we see this increasing concentration of wealth and power, resource based industries and Australian politics coming together.”
