Labor accused of ‘burying’ controversial jobs for mates report after going to extraordinary lengths to keep secret

Labor is going to extraordinary lengths to keep secret a controversial report on jobs for mates in the federal government, after losing control of the Senate last week and threatening roll calls to ensure attendance at question time. After winning the 2022 election, the Albanese government commissioned former Australian public service commissioner Lynelle Briggs to review appointment processes for government boards. Its terms of reference were limited to public sector board appointments. The report was not intended to consider current appointments or appointment processes related to individuals. Initiated in February 2023, the review’s final report was handed to the government in August 2023 but has never been made public. It had been expected to be published by late 2023. The finance and public service minister, Katy Gallagher, has said the report is still being considered by cabinet. Sign up: AU Breaking News email But secrecy around Briggs’s findings has angered crossbenchers in parliament, including ACT senator David Pocock. Last week he moved a motion to change the Senate’s standing orders to add extra questions to question time until the report was made public, giving non-government senators more opportunity to scrutinise the government. That move, supported by the Coalition and the Greens, led to a marathon question time and retaliation by Labor, which lost a motion on Tuesday trying to force attendance with roll calls in the chamber. Gallagher told the Senate last week the Briggs report would be released “when that work is finished” and accused Pocock and other non-government senators of abusing Senate orders to seek unreasonable numbers of government documents. Figures cited by Labor suggest in the 1990s, the Keating government received 53 Senate orders to produce documents, compared with 336 during the most recent parliamentary term. On Wednesday, Gallagher offered a closed-door briefing on the report’s findings to the finance and public administration committee and said the report would be released before the end of the year, as required by a Senate order. The briefing would include “a verbal overview” of the findings and an opportunity for committee members to ask questions. “This briefing would allow me as the responsible minister to provide an update to the Senate and act as an interim step to meeting the order whilst the report remains before cabinet,” Gallagher said. The shadow home affairs minister, Liberal senator Jonathan Duniam, moved an amendment to reinstate the longer format for question time if the government does not provide the report by 31 December. “We want that document tabled and in order to ensure it is provided as the government has promised it would,” he said. Pocock sought to bring forward the deadline to 24 November, the Monday of the final parliamentary sitting week of the year, to stop the government “burying” the report in the pre-Christmas period. He slammed Liberal and National senators for voting with Labor on Wednesday. “The Coalition has handed Labor a get out of jail free card and undone the success of the Senate in holding the government of the day accountable for compliance with its orders. “Given the Senate’s rejection of the government’s claim of cabinet-in-confidence, this is a loss for transparency and a disservice to the will of the people who sent us to this place. “The silver lining is the added scrutiny it has brought to Australia’s political duopoly and the deals they do to try and preserve the status quo.” Senate question time ran for more than three hours last Thursday, leading to sometimes chaotic scenes. This week Labor accused some senators of routinely skipping question time, in order to go to the parliamentary gym or work in their offices. But Labor’s proposal to hold a roll call for attendance was soundly defeated. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said crossbench senators wanted to improve government processes and provide transparency. “There’s a reason why this report was commissioned in the first place. It’s because there is a problem, there is a view that jobs for mates is an issue within successive governments,” she said. Labor is also facing criticism over its plans to curb transparency through its freedom of information changes, an unpopular plan being debated in the lower house this week.