Page 2536 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 23 August 1994
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a press conference of my own, but that really flies in the face of how our committees have worked until now. Our estimates process belongs to this Assembly, not to the Liberal Party. I believe that those comments are warranted as a reminder of the responsibility that we in this place have, in our committee process in general - it has been proven in our committee process in general - and the Estimates Committee in particular.
MR HUMPHRIES (8.19): Madam Speaker, I think it would be reasonable to assume after more than five years of Estimates Committee reports in this place that the reports might be getting shorter and more succinct, but I regret to say that that is not the case. Clearly, our Estimates Committee appears to be capable not only of covering more ground but also of producing more matters of real substance.
I heard Ms Ellis's comments about politicking - I think that was the word she used - and I would challenge her to point to some issue or some recommendation in this report which cannot be substantiated. Everything in this report is, and can be, substantiated. Everything in this report is a matter or should be a matter of real concern, of real issue, to anybody wanting to make sure that this Territory is governed properly and in the most efficient manner possible. Every one of us in this place, even those of us who were present during things like Mr Faichney's evidence in the course of the last day of hearings, knows that there are severely unsatisfactory elements of ACT administration which are dealt with in this report, and that is the object of the Estimates Committee process. That is what we are meant to be doing in this process which is important. I hope that Ms Ellis realises that it is not just patting the Government on the back that makes the difference between a good and a bad Estimates Committee report; it is getting down to the meat of what is not going right in this Territory and dealing with that.
Madam Speaker, unfortunately this year's Estimates Committee was longer than any other year's that I can recall. This was partly because many of the issues which had been raised in previous Estimates Committee reports had to be repeated because they had not been picked up and adopted by previous governments or by this Government and partly because, unfortunately, there are still a number of issues which come to light which indicate what I would call a less than firm grip on the reins of the public sector and government generally by this administration, or possibly, in some cases, perhaps even too firm a grip, which indicates that they are making decisions which are not well borne out by the facts as they present themselves.
The point is, of course, that there is little referred to in our report which should be new to this Government. Many of the recommendations are old recommendations which have been repeated because they have not been acted upon. Indeed, many of the problems that were addressed in previous Estimates Committee reports have been more urgently addressed this year because the issues have been even more serious through the effluxion of time. I think, Madam Speaker, that others have referred to the fiasco concerning the abolition of the diesel fuel exemption scheme. I think I need to refer to only a few aspects of that to make the point that we have here a serious issue before the Assembly - not just the Government and not just the Estimates Committee, but the Assembly - which has to be addressed, because a significant amount of Territory money, Territory revenue, is at stake with the operation of this scheme. Almost a year after the diesel fuel exemption scheme was abolished, there are extremely critical issues which have to be addressed before we can be assured that we have made the right decision in that respect.
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