Page 397 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 December 2008
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matters that are included in this bill. They claim it was urgent, but they did not act in an urgent way, and then they put the Assembly in the position where we have to pass something that they claim is urgent and the case has not been made.
For instance, I asked the question: could the departments cash manage this money? I have not been given an answer. I then asked what the total appropriation that would cover this sort of support is in the budget, and I have got some answers, but I have not got an indication of what the total appropriation may have been and whether or not it has been spent. If it has all been spent in the first five months of the year then there are serious questions about the level of the appropriation. But, again, we have got no answers on these questions and, in the main, I suspect we will get through this night without hearing answers. We simply want to ensure there is appropriate scrutiny before this bill is passed. We deserve and we need more detail.
The Stanhope-Gallagher government and the Greens have failed the test of scrutiny. They have failed their stated ideals of seeking enhanced accountability and transparency. I would like to thank the minister for the briefing. I asked for a briefing on Monday, but apparently nobody can be trusted with early briefings, except for the Greens.
Ms Gallagher: Not you, Brendan.
MR SMYTH: Well, you said that. You said, “We don’t trust you.” I do not remember too many occasions—in fact, I do not remember any occasion at all when embargos have been broken in this place, because we all know the consequence is that you will not be trusted with it again. But there are numerous occasions when ministers, and I think both of you previously, have sent down advance warning of what was going on and offered detail—
Ms Gallagher: On a budget bill?
MR SMYTH: On detail. It is very disappointing. We all talk about this new spirit of cooperation, but at the first hurdle it just fails on a very important bill. I will do my best to scrutinise it tonight. But I am quite confident that, by the end of the night, most of the questions that we will ask and others might ask in this place will not be answered.
Many details have now come to light that just make me even more worried about this government’s approach. Many details have come to light from the briefing I had and the briefings that were given to many members yesterday that deserve further questions. Many questions have been asked that have simply not been answered, and this is not the way to pass legislation. This is not the way to scrutinise the appropriation bill, and this is not the way to be starting this term of the Assembly.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition (7.41): The appropriation bill that we are debating this evening is, of course, one of the most important pieces of legislation that comes before the chamber. As such, we believe it deserves to be carefully considered. It is particularly important in our new Assembly if openness and accountability are to be pursued more rigorously than ever before. As we have said this week on numerous occasions, accountability must be more than mere words.
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