Quakers gather for Integrity in Public Office action in Canberra

Quakers from New South Wales, Canberra and Victoria gathered on 9 February at Parliament House to advocate for integrity in our federal Parliament. 

• To view videos fo the recent action in Canberra go HERE (our Quakers Australia YouTube channel).

The Integrity Project is about Quakers going public with our testimony to integrity. It is a concern we are taking into the public realm, as Quakers have done for centuries. The project, independent from politicians and other organisations, contributes to the groundswell in Australia for integrity in public office and the establishment of a strong federal Integrity Commission.

“This project and the action today developed in the second half of 2021 in response to several problems with integrity in public office in the federal parliament” said Wies Schuiringa, one of the instigators of the action. “A lack of integrity in public office causes disrespect, distrust and cynicism in the processes of public office, encourages a further lack of integrity and derails governing for the common good”.

Like many faith communities Quakers have a concern for integrity and respectfully speaking truth to power. 

Quakers in Australia now ask for an integrated pro-integrity framework that includes:

• strong whistle blower protection;
• the allocation of grants on the basis of merit, not vote buying;
• transparency in and capping of political donations and their declaration in real time;
• the limiting of industry influence in political decision-making when the common good or the environment are not served;
• real consequences for politicians/ senior public servants/ appointees who prove to lack integrity; and
• the cessation of time-wasting personal attacks under ‘parliamentary privilege’.

For  more information about the Integrity Project go HERE.