Page 2682 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 1991
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is no question about that; it is on the record. It was my intention, clearly stated, that that matter should be resolved before his then appointment expired. I find it quite astonishing now to discover the facts as presented by the Auditor-General.
There is no questioning his integrity in this matter. He has established his integrity for all to see. When he says that his position was left totally unclear on 1 July, as to whether he was the Auditor-General or whether he was not, and that he was not informed until some time around the 23rd of the month as to what his position was, I believe that what he says is true. That matter should have been resolved long before that. It should have been resolved before the end of the month of June, not into the third or fourth week of July.
There is no question that this Government and this Chief Minister have been quite out of order in not resolving that situation before now. To leave the Auditor-General in the position, as he points out, of being totally dependent on the whim of members of this Government as to whether he has tenure or whether he has not is totally unacceptable.
Ms Follett: I have done the same thing you did, Trevor.
MR KAINE: You did nothing of the kind.
Ms Follett: I did.
MR KAINE: You did nothing of the kind. The Auditor-General, under the Alliance Government, was given a temporary 12-month tenure appointment and the reasons why it was a temporary 12-month appointment are explained in his own report. All that was required, if you had some doubt about whether you wanted to give him a tenured appointment or not, was for you to give him another 12-month or six-month or three-month tenured appointment - not to put out a day-to-day commitment where you, as Chief Minister, can withdraw his warrant as Auditor-General at any time it suits you, at any time he upsets you, at any time he says anything that you find unacceptable. That seems to be the terms under which he is currently appointed.
It is totally unacceptable. It would be unacceptable in any environment. It is totally unacceptable where the Auditor-General has a duty and a responsibility not to you but to this Assembly. For you to give him an appointment which is so tenuous and which rests entirely on your whim as to whether his tenure continues or not is totally unacceptable in any circumstances. You have the opinion of a number of other auditors-general throughout Australia as to what they think of it. Their opinion is a proper professional view.
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