Page 2168 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 28 August 2007
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From the little that did emerge by way of rationalisation of the government’s position during the education consultations after the event, the data and assumptions based on them were sometimes extremely flawed. Given the budget turnaround since then, it would seem that there never was really a rationale for such draconian cutting of government services. But as we have never been allowed to see the functional review, we do not know, and the opposition cannot adequately scrutinise the programs and decision of this government, which is what it intends. Of course, we cannot get other information through a court process that my colleague Mrs Dunne is engaged in at present.
Typically, then, in the estimates process this year, the Chief Minister sought to curtail questioning during some of the hearings. Sadly, he was not Robinson Crusoe in terms of other ministers. We have reported in the estimates report one unfortunate comment he made. He cut short questioning by saying he was busy. He said, “I’m extremely busy, Mr Chair. If there are no further questions—”. At least he stayed after it was pointed out there were.
The point is that it is up to the committee chairman to decide when the questioning is finished. It is important—it is one of our recommendations—that the Chief Minister and other ministers subject themselves to the control of the chair during the hearings. That is just basic. That is something that has occurred in the past. Just because you are a majority government does not mean that you have to stray from the normal conventions in this place.
When people answer questions I know there is often a tendency to sprout a lot of meaningless verbiage. But unfortunately it has become a bit of an art form under this particular executive. When that occurs, it does not really add anything to the understanding of government policy and practice. Indeed, it can be seen to be more intended to obfuscate rather than enlighten.
An approach favoured by some of the ministers here, including the Chief Minister, seems to be to use a sea of words to overcome listeners—sheer volume as opposed to any sense. After asking the Chief Minister a question on talkback radio, only to receive a longwinded diatribe in return, a member of the public commented, “I feel submerged.” So do we all. It is a debating trick—sure—but it is not a responsible way of accounting for government activities and shortcomings. It is also a government that hides behind mumbo jumbo. These practices carry an undercurrent of arrogance and smugness. It is unhelpful and arguably altogether contrary to normal parliamentary codes of conduct.
We have a number of recommendations in terms of answering questions and perhaps providing a ministerial statement before the start of estimates so that people can see it, just as a way of moving things along and saving time. Again, this sensible suggestion was rejected out of hand by the Chief Minister today. At least in question time we now have a rule—credit to you Mr Speaker; you have been pushing for this for a while—that an answer has to be a certain number of minutes: five minutes and no more.
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