Page 1147 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 29 May 2007
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Treasurer turned up on the second day. That was to give the community an opportunity to inform the committee of the questions they wanted asked of the Chief Minister, the Treasurer and his ministers. For 2005 and 2006, that continued.
But the interesting thing is that when Mr Stanhope became Treasurer last year he appeared on day three. Now, as we all know, he will appear on day eight. For a treasurer to appear on day eight of the estimates committee is to say that he is afraid of the committee, he is contemptuous of the committee or he is unwilling or unable to defend his decisions in his budget. It is like missing the first scene or the first act in a Shakespearean play; you have got to work it out for yourself. If that is the Chief Minister’s intention, then his contempt for the committee is even higher.
I seek leave to table a chart showing the appearance of Treasurers in estimates processes.
Leave not granted.
MR SMYTH: Again, leave is not granted. Yes, I would be embarrassed too, Mr Corbell, by the Chief Minister’s failure to appear.
If we turn to 2007, we see the Chief Minister now reneging on his responsibility as Treasurer. It is a fascinating tale, with some murky elements. We initially learned that the Treasurer would not appear at estimates until day eight. We did not know about that until we received the estimates program. People were genuinely surprised. Some questioned the Treasurer’s commitment. Some questioned his arrogance and his contempt for the committee.
I emphasise the importance of the Treasurer establishing the context for the budget. It is like the captain of the cricket team. The Chief Minister is not only the captain, he is the chairman of the board and chairman of selectors; yet he has picked himself to bat at eight. At least Ted Quinlan had the guts and the courage to bat at No 1. He might have batted a bit like Geoff Boycott; he was uninspiring, with an occasional four or a six. But what we get from our Chief Minister is a poor demonstration of leadership. That is a quality that Mr Stanhope emphasised in March 2001, when he said that leadership will be one of the values that shape the vision that Labor has for Canberra. Unfortunately, we are not seeing leadership now—leadership in the No 8 position in the team’s batting order.
Then we learned that there was an apparent reason for the Treasurer not appearing—because there is an overseas trip. As the committee noted, the Chief Minister would not be available in the first week. It is quite interesting, because even the Committee Office acknowledged that they began negotiating the draft timetable in February and that it was appropriate to have the Chief Minister start the proceedings, but it was not possible.
Then we have the Chief Minister contradicting this. A spokeswoman for Mr Stanhope said to AAP that the claims that Mr Stanhope had planned an overseas trip were baseless. Somebody’s office told the committee secretariat that they were on an overseas trip. AAP went on to say that an email obtained by AAP which was sent by the Legislative Assembly committee secretariat to committee members confirmed
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