Page 495 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 1991
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That seems to me the logical way for Mr Moore, if he is successful in being elected to the Estimates Committee, to undertake his inquiry. If he is not successful in being elected to the Estimates Committee, he has the ability to ask the necessary questions of those officials who will be ranged before him during that process.
What then is the parliamentary practice as it relates to the role and duties of the Estimates Committee? On page 47 of House of Representatives Practice, we find the following:
Estimates committees have been established in the past to examine, more closely than is possible in the committee of the whole, the proposed expenditures contained in the main Appropriation Bill for each year.
This practice commenced in the Senate in 1961, when it looked at the estimates before the main Appropriation Bill was tabled in the House of Representatives. This was extended in 1970, when the Senate appointed a number of Estimates Committees to examine the main Appropriation Bill. In 1980 the House of Representatives established four such committees, which allowed these committees to examine and report on but not vote on or vary the amount of any appropriation. This process in the House of Representatives was continued for only one more year, and the practice was discontinued in 1982.
As we all know, the Senate has operated its estimates committees following a resolution of 28 April 1976, which was part of the rise of the Senate standing committee system. I think we are all very well aware of the role the Senate standing committee system and the estimates committees play in the assessment of the Appropriation Bill. I suggest that it is quite clear from my reading of Mr Moore's motion that that is where this matter should rest.
In the light of these comments, let me now examine in a little more detail the motion from Mr Moore. It seems to me that Mr Moore in his motion is seeking to have the Public Accounts Committee make the sorts of decisions on spending that are clearly the province of the Government in its budget deliberations. The second paragraph of Mr Moore's motion is rather open-ended. I know that he did make some comment about this, but it does not seem very clear as to how far he proposes the Public Accounts Committee should go in this area. If you look at last financial year, this financial year, two or three financial years back - - -
Mr Moore: It is quite specific.
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