Page 4014 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 23 November 1993
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MRS GRASSBY (9.47): Madam Speaker, I would like to respond to the Estimates Committee report and make some comments on the process. I think many ACT Government Service officers, including the Assembly Secretariat staff, deserve praise for the vast volume of information they provided us with in a very short period. Too many people think Ministers can press a button on a computer and an answer will be available. It is only because of the hard work of dedicated government officials that these answers can be obtained and processes such as this can work.
The estimates process this year has been the most comprehensive to date. Government agencies have provided an inordinate volume of information on resources and how they are being applied. Unfortunately, I think some members of this Assembly are abusing this process, asking for information that should properly be dealt with by the Public Accounts Committee. For example, asking for the assets register of the Milk Authority, which I recall was not used by any member to either ask a question or challenge the basis of its estimates, was both a waste of time and a waste of resources.
Additionally, hypothetical "what if" questions and advance questions asked by many Liberal MLAs added nothing to the estimates process. What if the world should end tomorrow? Who can tell you what is really going to happen?
Mr Berry: Personal witch-hunts, too.
MRS GRASSBY: I will get to that, Mr Berry; do not worry. Questions were also asked in an attempt to scandalise either the workings of the bureaucracy or the types of assets being used by government employees. Certain questions asked by members were obviously just part of a witch-hunt. Typical among these were questions like, "How many cars, mobile phones or laptops do you have?". Whilst to some people these may seem like luxuries, they are nevertheless necessary modern office equipment. They have enhanced the efficiency and productivity of the public sector and improved service delivery to the residents of Canberra. In some situations they also form part of a salary package which would otherwise result in a drain of talented officers to the private sector.
Many questions were also asked about how aspects of policy were working and about administrative processes. Yet again these had nothing to do with the process of the estimates and wasted considerable time. At times it appeared that these questions were designed more to solicit a particular answer for a media grab than to genuinely ascertain the basis of an agency's estimates in the Appropriation Bill. I was ashamed at times to see Liberal MLAs acting on the advice of their hero Bronwyn Bishop in dramatising minor issues and creating scandals. Resorting to cheap shots to appeal to the unthinking elements is no real substitute for the hard slog of challenging the basis of a government's Appropriation Bill.
What the estimates process highlighted was the complete inability of the Leader of the Opposition to challenge the estimates of the Appropriation Bill. She preferred to go down the track of jumping on the band wagon of a couple of popular issues by opposing certain expenditure reductions. Madam Speaker, the
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