Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the government is moving towards possibly establishing a federal whistleblower protection authority amid a broader slew of integrity reforms,but won’t explicitly commit to it.

Independent MP for Mackellar Sophie Scamps asked Dreyfus whether he remained committed to creating the whistleblower body after he promised it before the 2019 election.

The attorney-general began by listing Labor’s reforms to improve government transparency and tackle corruption,such as via establishing the National Anti-Corruption Commission. But Scamps soon rose on a point of order,asking Dreyfus to directly address whether a federal whistleblower protection authority would be established.

“The government is now progressing a second,broader stage of reforms,which has included the release of a consultation paper,” Dreyfus said.

“There has been public consultation on additional supports for public sector whistleblowers,which may include a whistleblower protection authority. There have been submissions received as part of that consultation process,and they are being used to inform the government’s next steps for reform.”

Crossbench MPs havepreviously criticised the government for the “glacial” pace of its integrity reforms,and have called for a whistleblower authority to protect the release of information in the public interest.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has previously called on Dreyfus to intervene to drop prosecutions against David McBride and Richard Boyle for revealing state secrets in the name of the public interest.

Boyle went public in 2018 as part of aninvestigation into the Australian Tax Office byThe Age,The Sydney Morning Herald and ABC’sFour Corners that revealed heavy-handed debt collection tactics,after hisinternal complaint was dismissed.

McBride,a former military lawyer,was jailed earlier this year for leaking a cache of documents to the ABC that formed the basis of its “Afghan Files” investigation into potential war crimes.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten used a Dorothy Dixer in parliament to criticise senators for delaying a vote on the government’s reforms to the national disability scheme.

On Tuesday,this masthead reported that Shorten claimed the delay would add $1 billion to the cost of the scheme,saying savings would be delayed while some headed overseas for “cocktails in Copacabana” when they should be doing their jobs in parliament.

His claims triggered a rebuke from Senate NDIS committee members who said they needed to hear from participants in the scheme at two more public hearings and consider potential amendments to the draft law.

But in question time,Shorten reiterated his criticism:

The Greens are not a party of government. And the Liberals opposite know we could do anything in this bill,and they will never vote for it.

But what makes this delay even more pointless and wasteful in a cost-of-living crisis,is deep down the Libs and Nats know they’re probably going to vote for the bill in August.

So why are we having a $1 billion ego vanity show?

That billion dollars that you’re willing to waste … could pay for the packages of 60,000 children on the scheme in a year.

The average taxpayer in Australia pays $20,000 net tax. The Coalition and[their] Green allies are willing to say to 54,000 taxpayers that your tax you pay in a year doesn’t matter …

This is such a dumb thing to do. I ask,more in hope than experience:Don’t hide behind this notion that you want to consult. Just get on and save the money for the scheme.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dubbed the Greens and Coalition the “No-alition” after they joined forces to delay the government’s build-to-rent scheme in the Senate earlier today.

As reported in this blog earlier,they split the government’s proposed laws off from buy now,pay later reform and sent it to a Senate inquiry,which won’t report until September 4.

In question time moments ago,the prime minister was particularly critical of the Greens,taking the unusual step of tabling their press release about the vote.

“When it comes to housing,there’s been a vote over there in the Senate this morning where,once again,we seem to see ‘No-alition’ – and the Coalition and the Greens get together once again,” he said.

Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather earlier criticised the build-to-rent scheme for handing out money to property developers,who “helped create the housing crisis in the first place”.

Albanese mocked this notion:“The reason why the Greens say they oppose it is because developers will build the new housing. And they voted for that proposition! Who do you think built houses?”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers later got stuck into them as well.

“The consequences of your vote could be 160,000 fewer homes for homeless people and young people to rent,” Chalmers said.

“Now,if you really gave a stuff about homelessness in this country,you would vote for the policies that would build more housing supply in this country. And you wouldn’t conduct this ridiculous,underhanded,hypocritical campaign,which sees you vote more frequently with them[the Coalition] than with us.”

The speaker soon told Chandler-Mather to cease interjecting as back-and-forth barbs were exchanged between Labor MPs and the Greens housing spokesperson.

Two MPs havepreviously made complaints to the Speaker of the House of Representatives about “vicious” attacks from Labor MPs towards Chandler-Mather.

The first-term MP has led the Greens’ efforts to force the government to adopt more radical measures to improve housing affordability,often claiming Labor’s solutions don’t go far enough.

His approach has made him aparticularly loathed figure among many Labor MPs,who see him as a grandstander.