A Senate committee has called for a fresh investigation into whether former Liberal ministers Christopher Pyne and Julie Bishop breached rules around post-politics jobs.
The Labor-chaired committee's sole recommendation, released on Thursday, was for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to ask incoming department secretary Phil Gaetjens to reopen the probe.
Mr Pyne, the former defence minister, has joined a lobbying consultancy set up by his former chief of staff, which includes a role with services giant EY.
Christopher Pyne and Julie Bishop during their time in cabinet Source: AAP
The former foreign minister Ms Bishop has joined the board of aid contractor Palladium.
The standards prevent ex-ministers from lobbying government for 18 months or revealing secret information they learned while in cabinet, but both deny breaking the rules.
Former Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet head Martin Parkinson's investigation found the pair hadn't breached ministerial standards.
While the committee's report wasn't critical of Dr Parkinson, it did take aim at Mr Morrison's expectations of the investigation.
The report found the prime minister's response indicated he found nothing wrong with the post-politics roles or he was unwilling to exercise his authority to check if obligations had been breached.
"The prime minister should hold his ministers to account. The Australian people should hold him to account if he does not," Labor senator and committee chair Jenny McAllister wrote.
Liberal senator James McGrath, who co-chaired the inquiry, said government committee members found there was no evidence Mr Pyne or Ms Bishop breached ministerial standards.
"The absence of any evidence of non-compliance put forward in the majority report demonstrates the partisan nature of its findings," he wrote in a dissenting report.
"It is difficult to imagine what a third inquiry would uncover that the first two have failed to."
Greens senator Larissa Waters said the "cooling-off" period for former ministers should be extended from 18 months to five years.
"The prime minister should also slash parliamentary pensions for former ministers who don't comply," she said.
"The risk of losing their parliamentary pension will have a remarkable impact on focussing ex-ministers away from feathering their own nest and towards opportunities with less conflict-of-interest potential."
In additional comments, crossbench senator Rex Patrick called for EY to be banned from tendering for defence work for 18 months from the time Mr Pyne joined the firm.
Greens senator Larissa Waters. Source: AAP
He also wants the ministerial standards to be legally enforceable, either through legislation or regulation.
One Nation's Malcolm Roberts, who backed reopening the investigation, questioned Dr Parkinson's independence, arguing the top bureaucrat should have spoken to the two companies involved.
