A parliamentary report on parliamentary reports was handed down last month. Don\u2019t let your eyes glaze over, it\u2019s actually important.<\/p>\n
As politicians return to Canberra this week, community independent MPs have a shopping list of thorny topics for the government they want to talk about. Monique Ryan has a private member\u2019s bill for the Centre for Disease Control to treat gambling harm as a public health issue; Sophie Scamps has a bill seeking to end so-called \u201cjobs for mates\u201d, requiring a \u201ccooling-off period\u201d between working in politics and being appointed to cushy government roles; while Kate Chaney plans to highlight the dozens and dozens of parliamentary committee reports which have been left gathering dust, with the government long overdue in responding to important findings and recommendations.<\/p>\n
These things are all linked, the sequencing \u2013 of course \u2013 not coincidental.<\/p>\n
Monday is 978 days since a committee, led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy<\/a>, called for a phased-in ban on gambling advertising: a report the Labor government is still considering and workshopping, but has still not formally responded to (despite freedom of information requests finding a draft response was formulated in 2024 \u2013 more on that later).<\/p>\n On jobs for mates, the government refused repeated calls to hand down that report late last year, only relenting<\/a> in the face of a Senate revolt led by David Pocock who accused it of burying the findings<\/a>. The author of the report, Lynelle Briggs, criticised \u201cpatronage and nepotism\u201d in the system; but Labor was strongly criticised, including by the integrity expert Anthony Whealy KC<\/a>, for a limp response, which included ignoring Briggs\u2019 calls to overhaul jobs given to politicians and staffers, and instead set up a government framework for appointments.<\/p>\n The parliamentary report on parliamentary reports, meanwhile, found dozens upon dozens of inquiries conducted by committees had received no government response \u2013 despite procedures requiring a response within six months.<\/p>\n Chaney said since the Albanese government was elected in 2022, about 50 reports from House committees were still awaiting responses: half had been handed down more than a year ago.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n In the Senate \u2013 where the government does not control the numbers and more committees are set up by non-government members, often to probe Labor policies \u2013 \u201cmore than 150 inquiry reports tabled since the 2022 election have received no government response at all\u201d, Chaney said.<\/p>\n To be fair, this isn\u2019t entirely new. The former Coalition government also had a large slate of old reports it never responded to. We reported on a strange trend in 2024<\/a>, when Labor \u2013 in what could only be seen as a box-ticking exercise \u2013 went through dozens of reports still requiring responses, some years old, responding: \u201cgiven the passage of time since this report was tabled, a substantive Government response is no longer appropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n At the time, government sources told us the new administration was committed to giving responses to all reports. The reports from the House and Senate about the \u201cstatus of government responses to parliamentary committee reports\u201d show many far newer reports are still awaiting responses.<\/p>\n Additionally, in the Senate especially, Labor sources say the Greens and Coalition<\/a> seek to set up inquiry processes with an inherently political bent, weaponising the committee process to host public hearings and reports which are critical of government policy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Government must be held accountable, to honour the thousands of people who participate in parliamentary inquiries in good faith \u2013 the experts, advocates and community members who give their time, share their experiences and trust that their government will take them seriously,\u201d Chaney said in a statement.<\/p>\n It does raise the question of why taxpayer funds are devoted to paying for politicians to host hearings, fly around the country, stay in hotels and call witnesses to Canberra, if the reports end up just sitting on a shelf.<\/p>\n