Page 920 - Week 03 - Thursday, 28 February 2013
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As per my earlier discussions with Mr Seselja late last year, I agree that the opposition should be chairing this committee. I think it is quite appropriate that they do. It is, I think, a well-recognised principle that one of the non-government members chair this committee, and I think that should continue.
In terms of the numbers, I think we do find ourselves in an awkward position in this Assembly where there are eight members of the Labor Party and eight members of the Liberal Party. And we have had this discussion previously. I think that in that circumstance having equal numbers of members on the committee is perhaps the fairest and most appropriate response. And I know the various concerns about that.
If we look back through the history, though, of committees in this place, certainly we have seen a range of combinations, even for the estimates committee. In the Seventh Assembly, the last Assembly, we had a consistent pattern of two, two and one. In the Sixth Assembly when, of course, the Labor Party had a majority we saw the government putting a majority of its own members on the estimates committee, which I think is highly inappropriate. And I think that really was a bad precedent to set.
Mr Smyth has just made a number of comments about there being a lot of work to do for the committee. It is certainly a very busy period for the estimates committee but the practice we see, certainly in the time I have been in the Assembly—I do not know about before that—is that many members participate in the committee, not just the four that will be on the committee in this case or the five that have been on the committee in the past but a range of portfolio holders will also join the committee to assist with the scrutiny process. I think that is a good practice. I think it gives members who are following a particular issue and have some in-depth knowledge about it the ability to participate in the estimates process. That is good. So I think that certainly spreads the workload for the assigned members of the estimates committee, those who are actually recognised as being on the committee.
In terms of the ability to undertake scrutiny of the budget, I think there is still plenty of capacity. I think the committee has all the capability in the world to scrutinise the government and I am sure there will still be plenty of critique of the budget when it comes through from a range of members. In my mind, the important part is the questioning, and certainly when it comes to writing a report, even if not all members can agree, there is plenty of ability to raise concerns. Members have complete freedom, as we saw last year when Mr Seselja and Mr Smyth wrote, I think it was, 150 pages of dissenting comment which was tabled in the Assembly, debated and discussed—all of those things. There is no restriction on that critique being put forward.
Mr Smyth just made some comments about the use of the word “collaborate”. I think it is upon the committees to make an effort to collaborate. I think we have seen in this place at times that people do agree across party lines on important matters and it will be up to the individual members of the committee to, I guess, exercise their own judgement and their conscience when it comes to dealing with those matters that may be contentious.
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