The NSW Parliament passed a motion calling for the Government to work with the Greens and other Members of Parliament to pass stronger anti-corruption powers last night, after the Minns Labor Government self-destructed an attempted over-reach last week. Debate link here.
Sue Higginson, Greens MP, Spokesperson for Justice and Solicitor said:
"It was almost a moment of unity in the NSW Upper House last night, when Government Members were the only people to vote against a motion calling for them to work with the Greens and others to introduce stronger anti-corruption laws,"
"It has always been the position of the Greens that the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) should be given the powers that they say they need, in order to root out corruption in this state,"
"Legislation introduced to the Parliament by the Attorney General last year, that they say were to help ICAC, would actually have applied to every investigative authority in NSW. This would have been an extreme and sweeping change to the current lawful limits on using recordings of people that were made without their knowledge,"
"If the Government is introducing new laws after they forced their own last attempt to go down in flames, then they should recognise that the Parliament rejected the last version for very valid reasons. My message to Premier Chris Minns is look at the amendments that were refused by the Government last week, and build these into the next attempt,"
"Most importantly, this minority Minns Labor Government needs to stop trying to force the democratic Parliament to only accept what they deem is appropriate, and start to work collaboratively with those of us that are in this place to represent NSW," Ms Higginson said.
