Ministers are using Senate adjournments to bury bad news

Dear Editor,

Accountability requires daylight.

The Senate ran an inquiry into Australian Defence Force superannuation and pension schemes, initiated by Senator Jacqui Lambie.

Veterans Minister and Minister for Defence Personnel Matt Keogh has now delivered Albanese Labor’s response.

Ten recommendations went in. Eight were rejected. One was delayed. One was ignored.

Instead of facing scrutiny in the Senate chamber, the government waited for Senate adjournment to release its reply. That was not an accident. It was a choice.

Senator Lambie also submitted additional comments grounded in veterans’ evidence. Because they were not formal recommendations, the government did not have to respond. So it did not. That is how accountability gets buried.

Hear veterans. File the evidence. Reject the recommendations. Ignore the awkward parts. Release the government response when the chamber is empty.

ADF superannuation and pensions go to service, sacrifice and trust.

If the response is defensible, table it in the light.

I expand on this argument at markcroxford.net/read

Regards,

Mark Croxford
20-year Navy veteran and
former media and political adviser to a
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel

.

.

ChatGPT image

.

.


.


.