Page 3978 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 16 December 1992
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MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (12.28): Madam Speaker, I was doing some quick research. Mr Kaine was waxing lyrical about there being a vast number of unanswered questions on the notice paper. Some 27 of those 77 were asked in the last four sitting days. As a result of the attempt to gag this debate, I was forced away from doing my research; but I am very confident that question No. 400 would take us to the last two sitting weeks and that we would find that well over half of these so-called unanswered questions go back only to the last two sitting weeks.
A few have taken longer, as the Chief Minister indicated. A very small number take longer. The simple fact is that many of the questions that are asked are very complex. Some questions that have been asked of me require information which is simply not kept.
Mr Humphries: Sometimes they do not.
MR CONNOLLY: Those that do not get a very quick answer. I think the classic was the flat tyre answer, Mr Humphries. You asked me a question about why a particular bus had been stationed at a particular point on a particular day, and you got a two-word answer - flat tyre. Where there is a simple answer to a question we will give it to you in fairly swift time. Some of the questions that Mr Cornwell has been asking about processes and procedures in public housing raise issues on which information is not kept. The statistical databases that we keep for our reporting processes do not lend themselves to answering Mr Cornwell's questions.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Connolly, it is 12.30. The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 77 as amended by temporary order.
Sitting suspended from 12.30 to 2.30 pm
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Quarterly Financial Statement
MR KAINE: I would like to direct a question to the Chief Minister and Treasurer. Will the Chief Minister tell me when she intends to table a quarterly financial report in compliance with the Audit Act for the period ended 30 September 1992? Why is it that three months after the end of the reporting period that report still has not been published?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I will take Mr Kaine's question on notice and will ensure that that information is made public at the first available opportunity. I cannot give him a precise date at the moment, but I will check that out.
MR KAINE: I have a supplementary question. Does the Chief Minister agree now that 30 days is plenty long enough to answer and to provide information?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, speaking from memory, there is not a strict time limit on the period in which that information is required. Obviously, it is at the end of the quarter. As I say, I will advise Mr Kaine as soon as I can.
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