The government used to be quite cosy with independent ACT senator David Pocock. That was back at the start, when it needed his vote.

In its second term, Labor only requires the Greens or the Coalition to pass contested legislation in the upper house. Now Pocock has become an irritant for Labor, as he and other crossbenchers need to demonstrate their relevance in changed circumstances.

Pocock is calling out the government’s gross lack of transparency. “When the numbers were crunched on the last parliament they were more secretive than the Morrison government,” he says, describing this as “one of the most secretive governments in the last 30 years”.

On Wednesday Pocock led a spectacular revolt that united, in a rare display, the Coalition, Greens and other crossbenchers.

The immediate trigger issue was the government’s refusal to release a report by former public service commissioner Lynelle Briggs into jobs for mates. The government commissioned the report in 2023 – spurred by the fact one of the “teals”, Sophie Scamps, was planning a private member’s bill.

The report, titled Review of Public Sector Board Appointments Processes, was completed the same year. But it has been sat on ever since, presumably because it is embarrassing for Labor. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says, improbably, that the government is still working on the report. If it is, it must have started the work very late and presumably will be accelerating it.

On Wednesday the non-government senators passed a motion to extend the Senate’s hour-long question time, until the issue is resolved, by about half an hour, with the additional questions all to be asked by non-Labor senators. (In a chaotic Thursday afternoon, question time ran three and a half hours.)

The government reacted furiously. The opposition........

© InDaily