Page 2983 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 September 1994
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Since it is not now the Government's intention to reconvene the Estimates Committee, then one really does have to look at where the responsibility for this particular function falls. It has always been my view that it is the function of the Public Accounts Committee. Mr Humphries has sensibly put forward an amendment now. If the Chief Minister wishes to set aside the Estimates Committee, then I think that Ms Szuty has a very serious responsibility to look at why that is being done and why the Estimates Committee process that she is so wedded to is not continuing.
Since the Government wishes not to continue with the Estimates Committee process in its normal format, then - - -
Mr Lamont: No, it is to stop Mrs Carnell jumping in before the report comes out, like she usually does.
MR KAINE: We come to the nub of the problem. Mr Lamont did not get the limelight; somebody else did. If there are other people in this Assembly who are smarter and more astute and have more access to the media than Mr Lamont, then that is going to happen, no matter what the format of the committee is.
Mrs Grassby: No; they break the rules of this house by releasing reports before the chairperson does.
MR KAINE: Unless Mr Lamont wants to amend this motion to say that nobody should talk to the media during the inquiry, then - - -
Mrs Grassby: She issued a press statement and spoke about it, as she did on the petrol report.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! I do not think Mr Kaine needs all this assistance.
MR KAINE: You are quite right, Madam Speaker. I can state my case quite plainly without any help. If that is what Mr Lamont is really worried about, then why does he not put on the table a motion that would achieve that objective? It is very interesting. Mr Lamont's interjection really does give the game away. That is what it is all about. It is not a matter of what the constitution of the committee is; it is who gets the ear of the media when the time comes. That is what this motion is all about. But, to be realistic and practical about it, if the committee is going to be reconstituted along the lines that Ms Follett is suggesting, then it describes the Public Accounts Committee precisely. It is a committee of five members - two from the Government, two from the Opposition and one Independent. Its terms of reference require that it look at the very things that this select committee that Ms Follett wants to set up would be required to look at.
Mr Humphries's proposal is a sensible one. It places the responsibility where, in my view, it belongs, and it does away with the need to establish another committee, with all the demands that that makes on the staffing and the resources of this Assembly. So, I would ask members, particularly the Independents but members of the Government as well, to look at the terms of reference that Ms Follett is suggesting and look at the terms of reference of the Public Accounts Committee. If they do that, I think they have to come to
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