Page 4588 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 20 November 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
this Territory". I do not think it is funny, Mr Speaker. It is a clear disgust and contempt that this Minister has for the workings of this parliament, such that he chooses to think that it is a great laugh if he can get away without answering a question in this Assembly. Shame on this Minister opposite.
He was also asked a very good question, I think - with respect to myself - about financial accountability: How much has been spent on health in this financial year to date and will he provide monthly updates? That is a very simple question. He did answer the second part of the question, I concede. He said, in a very long, rambling answer, "I do not like the idea of providing financial updates. It is too embarrassing; the Board of Health does not like the idea; so I am not going to provide them".
But he should be providing information to this Assembly - if he is not going to give us the updates - on where the health budget stands. He is responsible for this health budget - not me, not the Chief Minister, not anybody else; he, as Minister for Health, is responsible for the budget for health for this Territory. When I asked him, "Is the health budget on target?", he could not provide an answer.
I seem to recall a similar question being asked earlier this year on the same subject - a question asked in about February of this year: "Is the health budget on target? Are any blow-outs expected?". The question was asked by Mr Berry, then the Opposition spokesman on health, of me, as the then Minister for Health. What would he have done if I had answered his question the way that he answered mine today - that is, "This is too important a matter. Members of the Assembly are not entitled to know the answer to that question. You are not entitled to find out about that. That is for the Board of Health to worry about"?
We are the parliament of this Territory. We are entitled to that information, because we are elected by the people of this Territory to be responsible for those things, Mr Berry. You should be accountable to this parliament, and you are not, because you will not answer the questions that are being asked of you, legitimately, in this Assembly.
The questions of financial accountability are, of course, very good and very important questions. It is vitally important that those questions be asked, because of the history of financial problems in the health system in this Territory. Yet we hear nothing from this Minister except, "I do not want to give you an answer. Ha, ha, ha. What a great joke. I can avoid giving answers to questions in this Assembly". This would be disgraceful conduct anywhere else in this country, and I am sure that members would see that very clearly if they looked at what other parliaments do.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .