Page 605 - Week 03 - Thursday, 15 March 2007
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We have seen this minister fail to deliver on projects. We have seen budget difficulties. It is interesting that it is the budget difficulties that drive this. Admittedly, the minister has inherited this from some of the former ministers. It is the budget—
Mr Stanhope: Budget difficulties?
MR SMYTH: Yes, this is what it is all about, Chief Minister. Did you not listen to your minister? I notice you took 9½ minutes not to talk about the minister. There was 9½ minutes, for five minutes of which you defended yourself. You did not defend your minister. Here is the justification: the reasons to maintain the ESA within the justice portfolio are very clear; they are ensuring that the organisation works within its budget and ensuring that the taxpayer does not have to pay for duplicated services.
What about greater efficiency? What about more effectiveness? What about more troops on the ground? What about more equipment? What about more planning? None of that. This is about the budget process. Did the ESA have budget difficulties? Yes, it did. For two years in a row it overran its budget by a total of $5 million a year.
Mr Stanhope: Did you vote for Bill?
Mrs Burke: Jon, you’re such a sad man.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Chief Minister and Mrs Burke! I know you like to talk to each other, but not now, please.
MR SMYTH: Some $10 million worth of a Treasurer’s advance had to be forwarded to the ESA because the ministers were not oversighting it. Ministerial responsibility went out the window. The ministers are responsible for the money that their departments and their organisations spend, but we had a succession of Labor ministers who did not have the oversight. What have we got? This is the “amputate the leg because you’ve got an ingrown toenail” solution to controlling the ESA. Why did you not fix the budget problems? If the budget was the problem, why did you not fix that?
Mr Corbell said, “I understand change is a difficult thing.” It can be. But when you moved from the old system into the statutory authority, did the volunteers object? No, they did not. They accepted it, they applauded it and they worked with it to make it work. They had hope and confidence that it would deliver a better outcome. What are they saying about your solution? What did they say this morning? When asked to vote in favour of the reform, they unanimously voted against the reform. When asked to vote in favour of the commissioner, they voted unanimously against the commissioner. When asked to vote in favour of the minister, they voted unanimously against the minister.
We have only to look at the last 10 months and at the minister’s five years as a minister to know that he has failed in everything he has touched. Even in his attacks on those who voiced opposition to him he said, “There are a few noisy people out there.” That is what he said: “There are a few noisy people out there.”
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