Ministerial Conduct

The majority voted in favour of disagreeing with a motion to suspend the usual procedural rules - known as standing orders - to let another vote take place. This means that second vote won't happen. It was introduced by Dickson MP Peter Dutton (Liberal).

Motion text

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Leader of the Opposition from moving the following motion immediately—

That the House:

(1) notes:

(a) the Prime Minister has repeatedly claimed to be bringing a higher standard of accountability, transparency and integrity to Government;

(b) the Prime Minister said on 8 July that "Well, what we need is transparency. I want politics to be cleaned up. And that's why we will have strict adherence to the Ministerial code of conduct";

(c) at least three Ministers have disclosed that they own shares, when the ownership of shares is specifically barred under the Ministerial Code;

(d) the Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories has admitted to the House that she was in breach of the Ministerial Code;

(e) the Assistant Minister for Health holds managed funds which have significant shareholdings in health care and private health insurance companies;

(f) the Attorney-General invests in funds which have significant holdings in businesses which he is responsible for regulating, and;

(g) the Prime Minister and other Ministers when asked about these matters have repeatedly dismissed the questions and claimed that 'there is nothing to see here'; and

(2) and therefore calls upon the Prime Minister to either:

(a) live up to his rhetoric and take steps to actively enforce his Ministerial Code, including seeking formal advice from the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in relation to each of the Ministers reported to hold shares or to hold managed funds which hold shares in circumstances which give rise to a conflict of interest; or

(b) admit that this Prime Minister is in fact failing to enforce his Ministerial Code and in turn is failing this critical test of whether his government is demonstrating the higher standards of integrity and accountability that he has claimed to uphold.