Page 2101 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 22 June 2010
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MR HARGREAVES: You guys can just sit there, be quiet and you might learn something. I doubt it, but you might.
Mr Hanson: I doubt it too.
MR HARGREAVES: So do I because you guys have heads full of cement; solid as a rock. The whole Flintstone family sits here before me. Contrast this, Mr Speaker, with the Greens’ approach. Their approach was one of examination and scrutiny with suggestions for improvement. Do not, however—I say this again—make the mistake of thinking this is a Greens report.
As it turned out, the report tabled today is not a representation of crossbench scrutiny but the product of partial, collegiate parliamentarianism, as it happens. You guys cannot even spell it. You do not even know it. You cannot even spell it. That the Assembly-elected members of a Select Committee on Estimates chose to disengage in the way these members did showed their contempt for our parliament and its processes.
It is a sad day in our short history. I now turn to the report. A close reading of the recommendations will reveal a preponderance of positive suggestions.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR HARGREAVES: I just love when they do that. They just go down, down, down. The remaining committee felt that it was the job of the parliament to contribute to the positive governance of the territory, not necessarily to engage in self-indulgent political point scoring and a mere search for perceived failings and inaccuracies. This benefits no-one. A large part of the recommendations talk about a need for a greater depth and clarity in information to support the items in the budget papers. It seeks to increase the—
Mr Hanson: No failings of this government? No bullying in Health? Elective surgery is going tickety-boo?
Mr Smyth: Everything is fine.
MR HARGREAVES: If you are trying to over-talk me, Mr Hanson, so the media do not pick any of this up, I suggest to you that you could put your mute button on.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, members. Let us focus on—
MR HARGREAVES: I am really getting sick of this, Mr Speaker. These guys are unbelievable. A large part of the recommendations talks about a need for greater depth and clarity in the information to support the items in the budget papers. It seeks to increase the essential understanding of the intricacies of the budget and for the Assembly to engage with the government of the day in the budget estimates process rather than to have opposition merely for opposition’s sake.
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