Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (8 April) . . Page.. 723 ..

MR BERRY (4.59): Is it not amazing that, when politicians find themselves in government, the need for scrutiny is slowly expunged from the grey matter? They do not want to talk about scrutiny. All we heard today from the Government was about their need to get the budget through. There was no concern about proper scrutiny or accountability, despite the promises that were made by this Chief Minister before the last election, in terms of accountability and consultation. All of the Government's contribution to this debate has been about how they can get the budget through quickly. They are not concerned about the issue of scrutiny and accountability. Mr Speaker, this Assembly has historically been an Assembly concerned - - -

Debate interrupted.

MR SPEAKER: Order! It being 5.00 pm, I propose the question:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Mrs Carnell: I require the question to be put forthwith without debate.

Question resolved in the negative.

Debate resumed.

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, this Assembly historically has always forced governments to subject themselves to full and open scrutiny when it comes to budgets. What this Government wants to do, of course, is to get its budget passed and away - put to bed - without scrutiny.

I want to come to the comments that were made by Mr Moore. Mr Moore made the point that he does not want to see public servants and departments running on supply. But I hope that what Mr Moore was not saying was that he was prepared to sacrifice scrutiny to achieve that aim. The Government has an obligation to bring down its budget in time. If it has a date upon which it wants to have its budget in bed and settled, it has an obligation to this Assembly to ensure that the budget is tabled in order to give us plenty of time to scrutinise it. Mr Moore, I think, has been a long-time convert to scrutiny of the budget and accountability. I hope that he does not sacrifice that principle to assist the Government in rushing its budget through this time.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .