The Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick says Labor appears to be backing away from support for a Senate inquiry into compliance with ministerial standards despite criticising Christopher Pyne for taking a job with a major consultancy firm shortly after leaving office.

On Sunday, Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong said the opposition was considering Patrick’s proposal for a Senate investigation, but the crossbencher now contends the opposition has gone cold on the idea.

Patrick told Guardian Australia it appeared the Labor leadership was “reluctant” to proceed with the inquiry and “apparently wants to ask government Senate leader Mathias Cormann for statement on the issue, and will most likely leave things there”.

“This wouldn’t be the first time that Labor has talked big about standards and accountability and then faltered when put to the test”.

Pyne, the former defence minister, announced last week he had taken up a job with EY to help the consulting group expand its defence business.

The current federal ministerial standards require that ministers do not lobby, advocate for or have business meetings with government, parliamentarians or the defence force on “any matters on which they have had official dealings” in the past 18 months. The standards also say that ministers should not use information they have obtained in office for private gain.

The former defence minister issued a statement on Sunday saying he was aware of his responsibilities under the code and intended to abide by them. Pyne said the providing of occasional high-level strategic advice did not equate to lobbying or using information he had acquired in his portfolio.

Labor and the Greens have criticised Pyne’s decision to accept the consultancy job. In the event the inquiry proceeds the Greens want to pursue an amendment to the terms of reference to include whether serving ministers ministers Angus Taylor and Josh Frydenberg may have breached guidelines regarding the listing and alleged destruction of a critically endangered grassland species.

“There are serious questions for Pyne, Taylor and Frydenberg to answer about whether their behaviour complies with ministerial standards and this inquiry should hold them all to account, and examine how to make these toothless standards meaningful,” Waters said.

Patrick believes he has the numbers to get the Senate inquiry on foot if Labor supports the proposal, but it has no prospects of success if the opposition doesn’t support it.

“Hopefully Labor give this issue some further thought and come out in support of a comprehensive Senate inquiry,” Patrick said. “Otherwise they will again be at one with the Coalition, delivering another triumph of low expectations.”

Labor has not provided any firm commitments and is continuing to deliberate about the best means of examining compliance with the standards. “We are discussing the best way to deal with this, including senator Patrick’s proposition,” Wong told the ABC on Tuesday.

“But I think the important point here is this, ultimately, shouldn’t have to be dealt with by the parliament, it should be dealt with by the prime minister of the day.

“The ministerial standards are enforced by the prime minister. So this is a test of Scott Morrison and what sort of man he is”.



