Senator ROBERTS (Queensland) (13:32): Trust—as a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I want to speak today about one word—'trust'—and a friend who earned, through hardship, many people's enormous trust. Integrity—we have all heard plenty about this issue in the Senate of late, mainly in the context of it being missing from the actions of recent former ministers. I am, of course, referring to the outrageous behaviour of Mr Christopher Pyne and Ms Julie Bishop in leaving their ministerial roles to walk straight into cushy jobs, and raising public questioning and disgust. I am a part of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee's inquiry into their cushy jobs. They answered my questions about their intentions and salaries with weasel words. They didn't build trust. I asked the then top bureaucrat in Australia, Martin Parkinson, at the time the head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, questions about his 'investigation' into their post-ministerial employment. He was evasive, and finally, after he had repeatedly told the committee of senators of his 'investigation', he admitted to me that he had no investigatory powers. No investigation, despite the Prime Minister asking him to investigate with no investigatory powers. How can anyone trust such a system, such a structure? This has been a complete insult to the intelligence of the Australian people, who deserve a full answer as to how their taxes are spent to help line the pockets of these politicians. They springboard into lucrative positions based on their acquired knowledge and experience as federal politicians. And without full explanation and proper investigation, many people could easily perceive the cushy job as a reward for services rendered. That undermines parliament's reputation. It undermines the people's trust in their elected representatives. Another extreme example of this abhorrent behaviour is that of Mr Andrew Robb, the ex trade minister, who, after negotiating the controversial 99-year lease of Darwin Port to the Chinese owned Landbridge group, promptly accepted a consultancy position with Landbridge for a salary in excess of $880,000 per year—not much integrity here, and yet another insult to Australian taxpayers, another breach of trust. This greedy and questionable behaviour has extended into corrupt, fraudulent behaviour and into other areas of government, including within the Queensland state government, as identified as far back as the Fitzgerald inquiry, after which several government ministers were charged and convicted of dishonesty offences. In recent times, corruption in local government has been particularly in the public eye, with Ipswich having been considered the corruption capital of Queensland. Corruption in Queensland has been reported since the Fitzgerald inquiry in 1989 and the Shepherdson inquiry in 2002. Recently, two—not one—past mayors of Ipswich have been convicted of council-conduct-related offences. Former ALP mayor Paul Pisasale was convicted of extortion and related offences and jailed. Former mayor Andrew Antoniolli was convicted of multiple fraud charges. The people of Ipswich deserve far better. The people want to be able to trust the representatives that they elect. The corruption of the Ipswich City Council was so widespread that local ALP member of parliament, Mrs Jo-Ann Miller, was threatened with expulsion from the ALP when she spoke up about the corrupt Ipswich City Council. She shone a light on it, and good luck to her. She should be commended for her stance in opposing the corruption from members of her own party. She first raised the issue as a newly elected state MP in 2004 and was endlessly hounded and punished in various ways for her honest efforts working for justice. There is, however, finally some light at the end of this dark tunnel of misconduct and corruption. In Ipswich, an honest, courageous and highly competent man, Mr Gary Duffy, and his equally courageous, honest and competent partner, Conny Turni, exposed corruption in the Labor Ipswich City Council. This led to 16 people being charged, including two former mayors, two chief executive officers, a chief operations officer and an associated lawyer, all of them with over 100 criminal offences identified. The end result was the state government's sacking of the entire Ipswich City Council. Fourteen years after Jo-Ann Miller first raised it, the state appears to have covered up or at least turned a blind eye to Ipswich's rampant law-breaking. The Ipswich City Council has been supported by the Local Government Association of Queensland, who, contrary to the interests of taxpayers, had advised the council members how to ensure that ratepayers paid for all the legal costs of the charged councillors. The sacked council members were all advised by the Local Government Association of Queensland how to ensure that ratepayers would pay all the council members' legal costs. A common link to this local government corruption has been the involvement of the Local Government Association of Queensland. And that raises an important question: does the Local Government Association of Queensland's involvement point to corruption and law-breaking at Ipswich being just a symptom of wider corruption across other councils in Queensland? Is there a template or a system for this corruption? Well, this level of corruption is not isolated. In Logan City Council, the exposure of corruption within the council led to seven councillors and the mayor being charged with corruption and conspiracy offences and the ultimate sacking of the entire council. Gary, with Conny's support, was up against the combined might of the Ipswich Labor machine, the Queensland state Labor machine, the Local Government Association of Queensland machine—all with their bulging coffers and revenue streams—and he beat them. Yet Gary's actions came at great personal, health and financial cost. Fortunately, he's recovering. Mr Gary Duffy is the local Ipswich man who was brave enough to expose the corrupt culture at the Ipswich City Council. He pushed for full investigations of the claims that were pointing the finger of corruption at the very highest levels of the Ipswich City Council. His concerns and brave actions were, in fact, justified when the court dealt with the offenders. He and his wife Conny have a long history of successful voluntary work supporting Ipswich in sporting, community and business activities. He has coached Rugby League and Union for over 16 years and is widely respected across the community. He offers persistence, integrity and great courage in taking on the Goliaths of evil. He is a generous man and he's both liked and trusted. Gary Duffy has much more to offer the Ipswich community, and I am pleased to encourage and support him to stand as a candidate for mayor of the Ipswich City Council at the forthcoming election in March. When I stood for the state seat of Ipswich in the 2017 Queensland state election, I met Gary for the first time and saw repeatedly the regard, the respect and the trust in which the people of Ipswich hold him. I worked with him and saw people thank him in the street personally for his work for their city. I learnt of threats he had endured and overcome with his courage. Beyond these core traits, I was impressed with Gary's hard work and endless energy. He is a very, very hard worker—researching into the early morning, getting up early in the morning and going back to work after just two or three hours of sleep. He has devoted hours, years, of his life as a volunteer. His background is diverse. After working in many industries—banana grower, mechanic—he's practical and a clear thinker. He has lived overseas. He researches extensively and make decisions based on facts. After being slapped with questionable lawsuits accusing him of defamation, apparently to shut him up and bog him down in legal formalities, Gary persisted, worked his way through the legal morass and emerged intact. How? Because he believes in being accurate. Accuracy is important to both Gary and Conny and that drives their extensive research. Gary stands for supporting local jobs for locals and wishes to return to the concept of the council employing its workers directly and locally, not through subcontracting to overseas interests. He supports the council taking on more apprentices, undertaking to grow the skill levels of those working in the city. Most importantly of all, Gary Duffy has the heart and the stamina to lead the new Ipswich City Council as its mayor to become a beacon in local government across Queensland. The people of Ipswich deserve an honest, capable candidate. Mr Gary Duffy has the energy, resilience, integrity and honesty to do what is right for the people of Ipswich. Despite the intimidation and threats, Gary, with Conny's support, has prevailed. Ipswich was once Queensland's second most prominent city—glory days. Gary, as mayor, would make a wonderful start to restoring Ipswich's reputation. Having as head of the council someone who has a record of selflessly and honestly serving the fine people of Ipswich, Gary Duffy has something that today is rare in politics—trust. Gary has earned the people's trust.