Liberal moderate Bridget Archer says she wants to work with the Albanese government to establish a federal anti-corruption body, and possibly on climate change, because having a more collaborative parliament is in the interests of Australian voters.
During the last parliament, Archer crossed the floor to support the independent MP Helen Haines’ push to establish a federal integrity commission because she was frustrated with Scott Morrison’s “inertia” on the issue.
On Monday, Archer told Guardian Australia the new Albanese government had no practical obligation to bring people in because it secured a working majority, but she said Labor had a significant strategic opportunity to make the 47th parliament more collaborative.
When it came to the integrity commission, she said: “I’m keen to be involved.”
She said Australian voters had sent a clear message about the type of representation they wanted for the next three years by returning a large crossbench to Canberra after the May election. But Archer said a “kingmaking” or “horse-trading” culture wasn’t necessarily helpful to deliberation and decision making.
“Often, you get a better result for more people if you reach your hand out [more broadly],” Archer said. “There is an opportunity for this parliament to be one of the more collaborative ones and it would be smart if Labor took that opportunity.”
Archer said establishing an integrity commission was “not a new agenda for me, and people are sick of the politics, they actually want people to work together”.
The Liberal moderate said there was a reluctance in major party culture to look for common ground because parties were always looking to safeguard transactional interests. She said it was possible Labor would be reluctant to collaborate with a political opponent because the party might want to “make sure [they] don’t give Bridget Archer any wins because [they] want to win Bass next time”.
“I’m interested to see whether Labor will make good on their noises about putting politics aside,” Archer said.
“Why wouldn’t you look across the parliament and deal with MPs with a longstanding interest in significant issues – then the process doesn’t become a horse-trade about something else.”
Archer said if a template could be established around legislating an integrity commission, then she could look to cooperate with the new government on other proposals where there was common ground, like climate policy.
Peter Dutton used his opening sortie as Liberal leader to telegraph an interest in working with Haines to pass her proposed legislation to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog.
In the May contest, the Liberal party ceded much of its metropolitan heartland to candidates promising concrete action on an integrity commission. Independents picked up Wentworth, North Sydney, Mackellar, Goldstein, Kooyong and Curtin; the Greens picked up Ryan and Brisbane; and Labor picked up seats like Higgins, Boothby, Reid and Bennelong.
Archer was the only Liberal to break ranks on the integrity commission and she managed to survive the electoral tsunami, holding her ultra-marginal seat of Bass.
Haines has suggested to the new attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, that she co-chair a joint select committee of the parliament to work through the technicalities of establishing the new federal body and allow various experts to make their views known.
Haines told Dreyfus a collaborative committee process would acknowledge the groundwork that had been done in the last parliament and also allow the new government to make a cooperative gesture with the crossbench at the opening of the 47th parliament.
A new departmental taskforce is being established to develop policy options and consult with stakeholders while working closely with the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. Sarah Chidgey, a deputy secretary in the attorney general’s department, will spearhead the policy development at the official level.
Dreyfus has confirmed that Labor’s national integrity commission will have the power to investigate pork-barrelling as well as “serious and systemic” past corruption allegations.
Dreyfus has also signalled he will consider aspects of a crossbench bill and consult independent MPs before introducing the government’s proposal to parliament. Anthony Albanese has said he wants to get the legislation passed before the end of the year.
