STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator O'NEILL (New South Wales) (13:32): I rise to make a contribution in this two-minute section around a matter that has actually just been debated, here in the parliament, in part. It's a matter of great interest to you, Acting Deputy President Scarr, and to Senator Pocock, and that is the matter of KPMG: its governance, its culture and its treatment of a whistleblower who brought very important matters to light.

On 19 June, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services—which, as you know, I chair—held a public hearing into KPMG. That hearing raised significant questions about the misuse of confidential client information, the firm's internal investigations and its reliance on a process called 'legal professional privilege' to resist producing key documents on which it made assertions and claims.

Since then, the matter has only led to more fallout. KPMG's chair, Martin Sheppard, and two senior audit partners have resigned amidst the fallout. These resignations, however, do not close the matter.

They underline, now, more than ever, why transparency is absolutely essential. This is not simply an internal corporate issue. KPMG performs work that goes to the integrity of Australia's financial system and to public confidence in major institutions—indeed, including Australians' superannuation.

When serious allegations are raised, the public is entitled to much more than partial answers or carefully managed statements and the derisory conduct of those who have inflicted such incredible suffering on whistleblowers then being covered up with claims of privilege which are actually at odds with the laws of this country. If KPMG wishes to truly be transparent, and if it wishes to take responsibility, then it should publish the documents provided to the committee, the legal advices, in their entirety—no more farce; no more skirting around the issue; no more hiding behind legal professional privilege.

The Australian public deserves the truth.