Page 3079 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 17 November 1992
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MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (8.28): I must say that I find it rather incongruous that some weeks ago we had the situation where a Minister of the Government moved a motion to establish an estimates committee and nominated the chairperson of that committee. At the time I thought it was grossly improper for a government to nominate the chairmanship of the committee that was going to look at its estimates. It had nothing to do with the fact that that person happened to be Ms Szuty, but I think that that in itself should have raised some questions in people's minds.
It is rather interesting now, the report having been tabled, that we find the Government up in arms because the chairman that they appointed has the effrontery to criticise them. What sort of standards does this Government have? Presumably, they expected Ms Szuty to be some kind of puppet that would simply come back and say what they wanted. I am pleased that Ms Szuty has demonstrated that that was not the basis on which she took the job. The members of the Government can twist and squirm and complain and whinge, to quote the Chief Minister from her own debate today; but there is no question that the chair of the Estimates Committee has acted properly and has acted with fairness and with equity. She has been a consultative chairperson and has acted in the concept of social justice - the very things that this Government claims for itself. When it is turned back on them, they whinge and complain.
I have no criticism whatsoever of the contents of this report. I believe that it is an excellent report. It deals comprehensively with some of the faults in the estimates. It reports faithfully the proceedings where Ministers and senior members - - -
Mr Connolly: You were not there for the three days I was before the committee. I did not see you.
MR KAINE: We will come to that in a minute, Mr Connolly. You are a very strange person, I must say. I will come to that in a minute. But let us be clear - - -
Mr Berry: It sounds like the pumpkin has fermented a bit.
Mr Connolly: How can you say that it was accurate if you were not there?
Mr De Domenico: Your lot were not there when the guts of it was discussed, because you did not like what it was saying about you. Just let us get the thing back into perspective.
MR KAINE: I will come to him in a minute, Mr De Domenico. He is another whinger, another complainer; he does not like the report, so he attacks the messenger.
Mr Connolly: You just said that it was an accurate report, but you were not there for the three days I was there. How do you know that?
MR KAINE: I will come to that in a minute. The point is that you did not sit in on every day of the Estimates Committee. You went there only when there were matters that were of concern to you.
Mr Connolly: I am not a member of the committee. I am not allowed to be there.
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