Page 856 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
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Outstanding Government Accounts
MR STEVENSON: My question is to the Chief Minister, Trevor Kaine. As of this date, 13 March, are there any outstanding accounts payable by ACT Government departments which have been outstanding for more than 30 days? If so, what amounts are owed, whom are they owed to, and when were the bills incurred?
MR KAINE: My photographic memory has failed me for the moment, Mr Speaker. I seem to recall that there were one or two, but I do not recall the details of them. Quite frankly, Mr Speaker, that is a question that would take the entire ACT Government Service days to answer. It is a foolish question to ask, and I will not even take it on notice, because I think it would use up enormous resources of a lot of people, all for nothing. I will not even take the question on notice.
MR STEVENSON: I have a supplementary question. As I said "over 30 days", I do not mean those accounts that have been paid on time. I mean accounts that have not been paid on time, when the Government demands within an inch of people's lives that they pay their accounts on time. So, you are suggesting, Chief Minister, that it would take the departments ages to do such a thing?
MR KAINE: I am not suggesting anything, Mr Speaker. I am asserting that for every agency of the Government to go through the exercise that Mr Stevenson is talking about would certainly require literally hundreds of man-hours of work. It is not just one or two agencies. Every agency of the Government has an accounts processing section. It may be in the minds of the Opposition that they will completely clog up the administration so that it cannot actually get on and do anything useful. It is not in my mind to do that. I think that it is a question that simply could not be answered with a reasonable allocation of resources, and I do not think it is a question that Mr Stevenson really expects me to answer.
Mr Stevenson: It certainly is, and I will put it on notice.
MR KAINE: You can put it on notice; but it will take a long time to answer it, I can tell you.
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