Page 3350 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 18 September 1990
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services, longer waiting lists for surgery and eventually fewer public hospital beds.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Berry, that is not where you have been misrepresented.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
ESTIMATES COMMITTEE
Appointment
MR KAINE (Chief Minister) (8.27): Mr Speaker, I move:
That -
(1) an Estimates Committee be appointed to examine the expenditure proposals contained in the Appropriation Bill 1990-91;
(2) the Committee consist of five members;
(3) the Committee report to the Assembly by 5 November 1990;
(4) if the Assembly is not sitting when the Committee is ready to report, the Committee may send its report to the Speaker, or in the absence of the Speaker, to the Deputy Speaker who is authorised to give directions for its printing and circulation; and
(5) the foregoing provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the Standing Orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the Standing Orders.
Mr Speaker, the debate in principle on the budget now being completed, it is necessary, desirable and expedient that we examine the budget in greater detail. It is customary to establish an Estimates Committee for this purpose. I am proposing that we do this. I am proposing that the committee should consist of five members of the Assembly and it should report back by 5 November. This would enable the final debate on the budget to be completed in order for the budget to take effect from 1 December when, of course, the Supply Bill expires. The Budget has to be in place so that we have continued authorisation to spend money.
Mr Speaker, this is a fairly normal approach. I know that the former Chief Minister, now Leader of the Opposition, had a different idea about establishing an Estimates Committee; but there are a couple of things that I should say about that. One is that she was forced, by virtue of being the leader of a minority government, to take a different approach than governments normally do. The second is that I am well aware of the fact that, having gone through the process last year, the Leader of the Opposition said that she would never go through that process again; she would do it differently. Now the facts are that she is not the Chief Minister, we do not have a
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