Page 1698 - Week 08 - Thursday, 28 September 1989
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The proposed timetable for the committee's work gives ample opportunity for members to examine the budget and to identify areas of concern, and sufficient flexibility to enable the passage of the Appropriation Bill in late November or early December.
It is proposed that the proceedings of the Estimates Committee will take place on a portfolio-by-portfolio basis. A timetable for the appearance of particular portfolios before the committee will be developed in consultation with the chairperson and will be made available to members closer to the proceedings. I confidently expect that the members opposite have re-examined their initial opposition to the concept - I believe they have - and will join with the Government in supporting the function of this integral part of the budget process.
Mr Speaker, may I just put in a final plea that, in proposing an Estimates Committee, I am being far from Machiavellian. I am offering members a genuine opportunity to examine the expenditure proposals, an opportunity that I think will increase their knowledge and an opportunity that not all of them had during the consultation process, particularly those who withdrew from those processes and those who were not involved in the first place. It is offered in a spirit of genuine sharing of knowledge, sharing of information and sharing of resources. I commend the motion to the Assembly.
Amendments agreed to.
MR JENSEN (6.08): I move:
Omit paragraph (3).
Mr Speaker, I will speak very briefly on this particular matter. The Rally is supporting the general proposal to refer the budget to an Estimates Committee. However, as already identified, we have supported the amendments proposed by Mr Kaine and the Liberals, and the Rally believes that the motion that the Chief Minister has put forward, particularly in relation to the requirement for the committee to meet on particular days - 10, 11 and 12 October 1989 - for three days only is an imposition. I am not quite sure of the reason, and I listened very carefully to the Chief Minister's speech to see whether there was any particular reason why she had to identify the time for the committee to meet.
I would suggest, Mr Speaker, that it is an imposition on the committees to decide when they are to meet. That is the reason why I have moved the motion to enable the committee to decide when it is to hold its meetings.
MS FOLLETT (Treasurer) (6.10): Mr Speaker, just very briefly on Mr Jensen's amendment, the reason why those dates were put in was again in an effort to be helpful. I
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