Page 5401 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 3 December 1991
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should not be in. The Minister should never have put himself in the position where the chairman of the board has to come to his rescue. If he had been open and responsive to the requests of the members of this Assembly, the situation would never have arisen in the first place. It is simply not good enough for the Minister to say, "The board is responsible and I am not going to answer your questions". That is not what ministerial accountability under the Westminster system is about. He will not get away with it; he has not got away with it.
It is a matter of some concern to me that the Assembly has to pass a motion that requires the Minister to provide financial information on a monthly basis. It is a reflection on the Minister that such a motion had to be passed by the Assembly in the first place. Quite frankly, it is a disgrace. If I had some sort of an assurance from the Minister that he would be properly accountable to this Assembly, which he has not proven up until now, I for one would be only too happy to rescind the motion; but I know that he will not give that assurance. He has given no indication that he will do so.
Under those conditions I have to say to the Minister that it is regrettable that he has put himself in this position. It is regrettable that the members of the board feel threatened because the members of this Assembly exercise their right and their responsibility as elected members to find out what is going on with that quarter of a billion dollars that is being used out there to provide health services. I am afraid, regrettable and all as it is, that there appears to be no alternative but for the Assembly to leave that motion on the books.
MR MOORE (3.40): Mr Speaker, I think that in principle this really boils down to the business about open government. I understand and must say that I sympathise with the position of the new Board of Health. I can understand exactly how they are feeling. They have been charged with a responsibility. That responsibility was given to them only a very short time ago and they are clearly working extremely hard to fulfil their obligations with reference to that legislation that we passed in this Assembly not so long ago.
However, I cannot quite comprehend why the Board of Health are concerned about simply letting people know what is going on. I understand their concern when they say that they have been singled out. That is true; they have been singled out. It is not a reflection on the board itself or our attitude to the board; it is, I think, a reflection of how a good manager would operate.
What a good manager would do in a business when he or she knew that a particular section had had a series of budget blow-outs is this: He or she would say to subordinates, perhaps new subordinates, "I want you to take over this
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