Page 2535 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 23 August 1994
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Mr Kaine: No; I want that misstatement withdrawn, Madam Speaker. That is what I am standing up for.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Kaine, you can make a personal explanation under standing order 46.
Mr Kaine: Madam Speaker, I am not making a personal explanation; I am taking a point of order.
MADAM SPEAKER: It is not a point of order.
Mr Kaine: The lady has misstated the facts, and I think it ought to be corrected.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Kaine, Ms Ellis may continue.
MS ELLIS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Given that famous person's disappearance, at least for the time being, I imagine, from the mainstream political reporting area, I thought that maybe her tactics would have gone with her. But no, they were displayed on and off throughout the hearings, and they added, I believe, not one iota of credibility to our processes. It is the processes of the Assembly here and now that I am defending.
The Chief Minister has consistently acknowledged and accepted the importance of the role of an Estimates Committee in this place. I know that, given proper scrutiny and fair examination, we can all contribute to improvements in our system of accountability, our accounting procedures, and so on. In fact, in the work of the Public Accounts Committee, scrutiny and critical comment across party lines occurs all the time, and I believe that it adds in a very positive way to the system that we run here in the Assembly.
I believe that the behaviour, the actions and the input of some members of the Opposition have devalued the process, merely because silly political points were sought to be made. I am, however, a realist, Madam Speaker. As a Government member of the Estimates Committee in this Assembly, I am part of a minority. In fact, depending on the issue at hand, the Liberal members hold the clear majority in that Estimates Committee process. A great deal of responsibility comes with that role. If our committee system and our estimates process is to remain credible and highly regarded, we must all treat the process with respect and with intelligence.
I want to thank my other committee colleagues for their assistance, their contributions and their cooperation in this process. The chair of the committee, Ms Szuty, had, I believe, a difficult job, given my earlier comments. I want to thank her for her advice, her help and her willingness to discuss different aspects of the inquiry as they arose, and to compliment her on what I believe was a very difficult task. Ms Szuty alerted me to the fact that, on the release of the report, a press conference was being held to which, as a member of the committee, I was invited. Unfortunately, it was a press conference that I could not attend. I suppose that I could have done what the Liberals did and called
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