Page 1262 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 23 March 2010
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MS HUNTER: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is quite clear—I will say it again because I do not think I could be heard—that there has been time spent researching this particular issue, and that has come back in your statement that you have given today. Obviously, Mr Smyth has dissented from that. I do not agree with Mr Smyth’s dissent. It is quite clear that what we are talking about—the question that was asked was in relation to a political agreement. The Speaker said at the time, “You can ask the question, but you need to leave that part out, reframe your question.” What we have heard clearly today is that at the end of the day the question was answered.
Of course, the opposition wants to try and paint this once again—this is a little bit of a bandwagon they are on with this one around lack of scrutiny, that they are the only people in this place that provide any scrutiny. We all know that that is a lot of nonsense. What you do do is waste a lot of time on many matters.
Opposition members interjecting—
MS HUNTER: We are here to scrutinise the government. We do scrutinise the government.
Opposition members interjecting—
MS HUNTER: Mr Speaker, could you please quieten them down so that I can actually hear myself.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Hunter.
Mr Coe: You have been into the Greens agreement as well, by the sound of it.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Stop the clocks. Mr Coe, really, I am at the point where you are about to receive a warning. The volume of your interjections is unacceptable. Ms Hunter.
MS HUNTER: There are a number of ways that government is held to account and scrutiny does happen. As we have already heard this morning, or just in the last hour or so, the question was about invoices and small business. There was a full answer given to that. Anything in the parliamentary agreement that is moved into being policy or has been implemented in the implementation stage has been funded. Questions can be asked on that. It is just that it cannot be framed in the sense of the political agreement between the two parties.
This idea that there is a lack of scrutiny is an absolute nonsense, and you know it. There are a number of other ways that scrutiny can occur. One is through the estimates process. I am very much looking forward to all of your participation in the estimates process this year—which we will be embarking on soon.
It is quite clear, as I said, why the Speaker made that ruling. I agree with the reasoning behind that ruling. I just find it a little hard to take that we are now an hour and seven minutes in and we have not even got to question time. You talk about the millions of dollars being wasted—
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