Page 759 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 1 May 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
But what do we know about the expenditure of these funds this year? What do we know about the progress of these many capital works projects? Nothing. That is what we know: nothing. A government that came to office on a strong platform of being accountable has now failed miserably in this significant area of spending of public funds. It quite beggars belief that we have a Chief Minister who in opposition prided himself on accountability. Now, with the boot on the other foot, it does not apply.
On 14 February 2006 the former ACT Treasurer Mr Quinlan tabled in this place the 2005-06 capital works program progress report for the December quarter. This was the latest of a regular report that had been presented to the Assembly, providing details of progress with all capital works projects being planned or undertaken across the territory. But, unfortunately, we were not to know at that stage that this would be the last of these reports to be tabled in this Assembly, it would appear. We have now found out that the Stanhope government does not think that the information in those reports is useful for the community.
I draw members’ attention to a Canberra Times article on 18 April in which Treasury said that it “doesn’t think the information is useful”, that the reports were “neither required by legislation nor useful outside the bureaucracy” and that the reports “were not user-friendly to the public”. We have heard today the Chief Minister say that. And why? Because they were “largely comprised of complex spreadsheets” and “determined … to more appropriately be used internally within government”.
Let us not forget that it was the opposition health spokesman, Brendan Smyth, who first drew attention to the missing reports, really knocking on the head what the Chief Minister said today—that we have never asked anything before. Of course, the shadow health minister is not able to check whether the health minister, Katy Gallagher, is actually fulfilling her budget promises.
Ms Gallagher: He can ask me.
MRS BURKE: Well, he could and he does often—
Ms Gallagher: He could write to me.
MRS BURKE: He does often, minister.
Ms Gallagher: No, he doesn’t; he puts out a media release.
MRS BURKE: No, he does often. It is extraordinary that the Chief Minister said today that they were complex spreadsheets. I would say this is a rather feeble attempt to hide expenditure or to hide giving the facts to people. This is a government that came to office propounding, amongst other values, the value of accountability. Now it is telling the community, basically, what information the government thinks they need. The Chief Minister’s remarks, I would have to say, imply that the well-educated Canberra community more or less do not have the intelligence to read a spreadsheet.
Opposition parties also rely on information being released by government, to assist them to scrutinise governments and to call them to account. That is what oppositions
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .