Responding to today's reported deferral of legislation to enable a federal integrity commission, the Greens will push to bring on for debate and vote legislation to establish a national anti-corruption watchdog when Parliament resumes in June.

A Greens integrity commission bill has already passed the Senate with support from Labor and the crossbench and could pass the House if as few as two backbench government MPs cross the floor, as they have threatened to do. The Bill passed in September of last year.

The Greens will introduce a motion in the Senate calling for Federal Parliament to sit in June to strengthen democracy and address ongoing issues of national importance.

“The Covid crisis response and the plan for recovery demand more transparency in government decision-making. The Senate Covid Committee plays a critical role, but is no substitute for full parliamentary oversight," said Senator Larissa Waters, Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson on Democracy.

The Greens have called on the Prime Minister to stand down Minister Angus Taylor until he can provide a full account of a doctored document used in a media attack by his office on the Sydney Lord Mayor.

“The Prime Minister has asked Australians for their trust in recent days but he has thrown integrity overboard by his failure to act on the ongoing, multiple sagas involving Minister Taylor,” said Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson on Democracy, Senator Larissa Waters.

Attorney-General Christian Porter continues to avoid a clear answer on whether his long overdue proposal for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission would have enough teeth to cover the rorts scandals.
 
“Based on the Attorney’s comments to date, it seems like sports rorts would not have been covered, which shows how weak and ineffective it is likely to be - if it’s ever in fact established”, said Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson on democracy, Senator Larissa Waters.
 

The Morrison Government is actively subverting democracy by twice in the past two sitting weeks using procedural games to avoid greater transparency on rorts.
 
The Government has today blocked Greens Senate Leader Larissa Waters from postponing a motion which would require them to disclose when ministers have departed from advice of independent bodies under Commonwealth Grants Guidelines, with risk of pork barrelling.
 

The Greens will move to get big money out of politics this week by introducing a bill to cap donations to political parties at  $1000 per year and to ban all party political donations from dirty industries buying influence: the mining, banking, gambling, alcohol and property industries.

The Government has today used its numbers in the lower house to narrowly avoid voting on a motion to pass the Greens’ bill for a national corruption watchdog with teeth.

“Today the Prime Minister has once again dodged scrutiny and integrity by gagging and delaying a vote on whether to have a strong federal corruption watchdog,” said Greens Senate Leader and democracy spokesperson, Senator Larissa Waters.

The Australian Senate has sent a message to the Morrison Government that it wants a federal corruption watchdog with teeth, voting for the Government to bring on the Greens’ National Integrity Commission Bill in the House of Representatives for a vote in the February 2020 sittings.

The Greens bill passed the Senate in September 2019.
 
Greens leader in the Senate Larissa Waters said,  “The Senate has today sent a clear message that it won’t stand for the weak Government model for a Federal ICAC which is already long delayed and ineffective.

The Greens have today written to the Auditor General asking for a full investigation of $150 million in sports funding channelled to Liberal-held marginal seats ahead of the election.

Greens Senator Leader Larissa Waters said, “This is yet another rorts scandal which has the Prime Minister’s fingerprints all over it.

“Memo to the Government - you can’t use public money to buy election outcomes! It’s called rorting and it’s a corruption of democracy.

The Senate today passed the Greens’ Order for the Production of Documents compelling the Prime Minister to release the Gaetjens Report and the Prime Minister office's emails where Bridget McKenzie may have been pressured over where the grant money should go.

The Senate today with Greens support also established an inquiry into the sports rorts scandal to get to the bottom of how decisions were made in the awarding to sports grants and the role of the Prime Ministers’ office.