Page 3076 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 17 November 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
However, in concluding my remarks on the additional comments provided, I would like to say that the noted inaccuracies in the additional comments themselves should be sufficient to demean their content. (Extension of time granted) Thank you, members. Of most concern to me as chair of the Select Committee on Estimates are the implied slurs on me. At all times I have attempted to treat all people involved in the process and all material presented to the Estimates Committee fairly, substantively and comprehensively.
Mr Connolly: You have just spent 10 minutes bagging everybody else for being dishonest.
Mrs Grassby: You are a bit precious, aren't you?
Mr Kaine: Madam Speaker, please protect the chairperson from this attack from the Government.
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Kaine. Please proceed, Ms Szuty.
MS SZUTY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is regrettable to me that these additional comments necessarily form part of what I believe is a credible, extensive and quality final report.
Madam Speaker, I now wish to address the content of the report itself, beginning with comments about the estimates process. The committee noted instances where information provided was different, for example, between annual reports and explanatory notes, and recommended that any errors be immediately notified to committee members. At no time should committee members be placed in a position where they are considering inaccurate information. The process whereby the Minister for Health inadvertently tabled inaccurate responses to a question taken on notice about hospital waiting lists is worthy of further comment. Mrs Carnell had alleged in a press release that Mr Berry had misled the Estimates Committee, even though the Estimates Committee had not met to discuss the issue. It is to the Minister's credit that he agreed to reappear before the Estimates Committee to clarify the situation. With the agreement of both Ministers and Estimates Committee members, I am hopeful that this process will be considered appropriate, at future times in future years, to resolve disputes.
Some attention has been paid to unresponsive answers provided by Mr Berry to the Estimates Committee. These were worthy of comment. However, at most times Mr Berry was obliging and cooperative in answering questions, as were other Ministers, the Speaker and senior officers. It could be said also that Mr Wood and Mr Connolly were generally in favour of questioning taking as short a time as possible, although Mr Wood specifically commented on the intelligent and extensive questioning by committee members on the arts.
Committee members commented favourably on the format of the budget papers and the timeliness of the receipt of the explanatory notes, and noted the possible appearance next year of a social justice supplementary budget information paper. The desirability of the receipt of final annual reports before the commencement of the estimates process was commented on, and the committee welcomes the Chief Minister's comment that future final versions of annual reports will be available by 30 September. Although questions taken on notice were generally
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .