Page 1727 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 1 April 2009
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What this motion simply says is that perhaps it is time to bring that back. I have suggested a formula. What the motion says is that we would like to see the government provide each member’s office with a budget kit for the member and for the designated adviser in that office, which I do not think is unreasonable. I remember with great laughter that they forgot to do it last year, or they lost the budget boxes or something: “Oh, we’re really sorry you didn’t get them until just before question time. We forgot. We forgot on the biggest day of the year to give you a budget box”. Well, nobody believes that, and it is unfortunate.
The other part of the motion goes to the tendency to gag debate on the budget, and it was certainly done in the majority—
Ms Gallagher: It was only 18½ hours last year.
MR SMYTH: Well, is 18½ hours enough? We offered last year to clear the entire week and just do the budget for the entire last sitting week in June. If you do not want to sit late, perhaps you should consider that. These offers have been made. Reasonable suggestions have been made. But you are talking about the budget that sets the tone, the expenditure, the policies, for the year, for the people of the ACT. If you think 18½ hours is too much, that is okay. Work out the hourly rate: $200 million an hour is not bad. That is not a bad rate to get through. But, again, the majority Stanhope-Gallagher Labor government shut down debate. This is the government that in 2001 said it would be more honest, more open, more accountable—and it simply has not done it.
Paragraph (4) of the motion “requires the Stanhope-Gallagher government to make officers available after the adjournment of the morning session on Budget Day to brief the Opposition and the cross benches in the debate on that appropriation”. Again, that is not unreasonable. We get briefings on many things. “Here is a budget. This is what the government is attempting to do. You can ask for clarification.” That always used to happen until the last couple of years, and that changed when Mr Stanhope had total control.
Mr Seselja: The question is: is Katy going to be like Jon or Ted?
MR SMYTH: I would hope that Katy is more like Ted; at least he knew what he was doing. Jon certainly did not. Paragraph (5) of the motion asks the Assembly to consider that each budget line should have at least one speaker from the three parties in the Assembly so that we do get a reasonable cross-section of views on what each line of the budget is about. That is not to say that there should only be one, but there should be at least one. And, given that we have more Green members than we have ever had, I am sure they will be willing to take up that opportunity. But at the heart of it is a process that allows us all to do our job properly.
I note in the minister’s press release that she goes on to say that, in addition to these hearings, the government will also ensure it responds to questions on notice and that last year we asked 2,134 questions and they were answered. In fact, they were not all answered. Most of them were not answered adequately. A lot actually were answered
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