Commonwealth Entities Legislation Amendment Bill 2026

Senator CASH (Western Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (13:26): That was possibly the most bizarre answer I have ever had in the Australian Senate. Seriously, have you listened to the answers that you have given to me in response to my questions? You say that you want to hold certain officeholders accountable under certain standards.

How do we know that's true? The parliament's never going to see them. The Australian public are never going to see them.

You could have nothing in those standards, and we would not know. That is the whole point of these questions. You are once again hiding from both the parliament and the Australian people what you are doing.

So can you identify the specific criterion that distinguishes these four entities from comparable statutory bodies, such as ASIC, the ACCC, APRA, the Information Commissioner or the Australian Human Rights Commission and its commissioners?