FED: Rudd cracking down on ministerial misdemeanours

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2007
FED: Rudd cracking down on ministerial misdemeanours

CANBERRA, Dec 7 AAP - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is vowing to crack down on bad behaviour
by his ministers, releasing a code of conduct that tightens accountability.

Mr Rudd was a strong critic of his predecessor, John Howard, for failing to hold his
ministers to the standards laid out in the previous government's code of conduct.

Mr Rudd's new guidelines look set to curb influence-peddling by political lobbyists
and restrict ministers' share ownership and their employment after leaving politics.

The new code of conduct was released after the Labor government's first cabinet meeting
in Brisbane yesterday.

It places a 12-month ban on departing ministers having business dealings with MPs,
public servants or defence personnel on any matter they dealt with in their official capacity
during their last 18 months in office.

Ministers will be banned from owning shares unless they are held in superannuation
funds, publicly listed funds or in a trust where the minister has no influence over investment
decisions.

And Mr Rudd will set up a register of lobbyists, as exists already in Canada.

This will require lobbyists to put their names on a public register before seeking
private meetings with ministers or parliamentary secretaries.

But Mr Rudd said the lobbyists would not need to disclose which minister they were
meeting, merely the fact that they were seeking access and which organisation they represented.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the government was serious about enforcing standards.

She told ABC television last night Mr Rudd meant business and intended to hold his
team to account if they breached the rules.

Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop said she supported Mr Rudd's ministerial code of
conduct, but wouldn't say if the coalition would adopt the same standards if it regained
office.

"Mr Rudd has set the bar very high and we'll certainly be holding his ministry to account,"

she told ABC television.

"Let's see how the government performs according to this code of conduct."

She also backed the proposed register of lobbyists, provided it did not interfere with
lobbyists' commercial activities, and said reforms related to the independence of the
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) simply formalised the process that already existed.

AAP dcr/srp/cdh

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