Scott Morrison has denied he broke a key election promise by not legislating an anti-corruption commission prior to the election.
The Prime Minister faced a grilling by journalists in Tasmania on Thursday after he conceded a federal ICAC was on the backburner until Labor agreed to the Coalition‘s model.
“You are asking Australians to trust you and you haven't delivered on a promise about trust, about integrity. How can Australians trust youxjmtzyw. It is a broken promise, isn’t it?” a reporter asked.
“I have to disagree with you. No, it's not (a broken promise),” Mr Morrison responded.
“We put forward our proposal in detailed legislation and it has not been supported by the Labor Party. I need bipartisan support to put that in place. I am not going to introduce a kangaroo court.”
Mr Morrison first promised an anti-corruption body in 2018 but did not present his model to parliament after it failed to win support of the crossbench.
Outspoken Liberal Bridget Archer – who crossed the floor to vote against the government to bring on debate on the independent MP Helen Haines model – was also pressed on the matter.
“I don't want the Labor model. My view has always been all the way through on every occasion I have spoken about it that all sides of politics will need to come together to get this done in a bipartisan way,” she said.
