Page 1697 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 21 August 2007
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been appointed only recently. Several recommendations were made. Most notably the committee recommended that the government table in the Assembly a progress report on the processes and timelines leading to the draft variation to the territory plan.
The recommendations that I have mentioned today and the others that are contained in the report are well thought-out, relevant points that the ACT government must consider seriously. I was honoured to have been assigned the task of chairing the Select Committee on Estimates this year and I encourage the government to respond accordingly to the recommendations. In conclusion I thank the committee secretariat. If it were not for their hard work, dedication and patience when dealing with members, ministers and relevant stakeholders this process might well have been extended. Thank you again, Grace Concannon, Sandra Lilburn, Hanna Jaireth, Robina Jaffray and Lydia Chung.
I also thank the staff of Hansard and Communications and the Clerk’s office for their guidance and advice throughout the proceedings. A special mention must go to our Assembly attendants who, once again, provided sweet sustenance for afternoon tea and just enough sugar to keep us going into the evening. I commend the report to the Assembly.
MR STEFANIAK (Ginninderra—Leader of the Opposition) (11.36): I also thank fellow members of the committee, committe staff and attendants for what I think was a pretty reasonable effort. Estimates committee hearings are generally a long and laborious process but I think it ran reasonably smoothly apart from a few incidents such as those that were discussed earlier today. I think the committee functioned well. There were a few issues but generally it was a pretty reasonable effort. I commend the chair and my fellow committee members for their dedication and hard work.
The committee’s report contains some good recommendations. We would like the government to take into account an additional 100 recommendations, but the report contains some recommendations that the government must act on promptly. Unfortunately, the Committee not only was subjected to what we heard this morning relating to the matter involving Mr Hargreaves; it was also subjected to some other rather bad performances from ministers. I agree with Dr Foskey who said earlier that Mr Corbell and Ms Gallagher did not engage in such tactics.
I believe that ministers need to lift their game. I will refer to a few statements made by the Chief Minister when he was talking about the property council, pretty much on the first day that government ministers attended estimates committee hearings. He said:
That is extreme and really adds to the lack of credibility which has become a hallmark of the property council. This is a mob with almost nil credibility. The property council, whilst ever they continue to act and behave as a daytime branch of the Liberal Party, have no credibility.
He also said:
Look, Mr Chair, I am incredibly busy. This is just puerile. This is the usual puerile nonsense from the standing puerile member.
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