Page 3677 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 26 August 2009
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Party suggests that we should leave issues in relation to waste up to the government. Do not take the community into your confidence. Do not dare have a community forum where you discuss garbage or waste. According to the Liberal Party, these are matters for government. “Do not trust the community to enter into a conversation on garbage,” say Mr Coe and the Liberal Party. “You can talk about other things, but do not talk about difficult issues. Do not talk about revenue.”
This is what Mr Coe suggests: talk to the community about anything except revenue measures relating to garbage. So there we go. The bottom line is, “Yes, we want you to consult more, but we’ll decide what you consult about.” The Liberal Party has decided the government should not consult about garbage. Garbage is off the table. Garbage should not be discussed with the community.
I thank Mr Coe for the motion. The department is serious about the review, and I will take this opportunity to seek leave to move the amendments circulated in Mr Barr’s name together. I thought this debate would have been held this morning. I understand there was a delay in proceedings by some non-political process.
Leave granted.
MR STANHOPE: I move:
(1) omit paragraphs (1)(b) and (1)(c); and
(2) omit paragraph (2).
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (12.13): Mr Speaker, there is a very interesting report, and the government’s approach to dealing with this report is just as curious. I note the amendments that were to have been moved by Mr Barr but were moved by Mr Stanhope. They say that we will take out part (c) in paragraph (1), which says:
… reveals that political influence has led to the department not delivering core business and that political expediency is more important than financial control …
I note that the Greens said they will support the amendments. But I wonder whether the Greens have actually read the recommendations and how bad this problem is for the department. If you go to page 16, “Financial Management, Budget and Costing”, priority No 5 is:
TAMS should introduce a register to capture the details of all unfunded initiatives it is asked to introduce by the Government and its Ministers.
This problem is so bad for the department that they have got to set up a catalogue to keep track of the work that they do when the ministers ring to get things done—that they have not been funded for, that are not part of their budget. That is causing them problems. You then only have to go to page 54 of the report. Under “Transport Regulation and Planning”, it says:
… this area has indicated that it is facing considerable pressures to deliver on its mandate as a result of funding, staffing and political influences that are resulting in certain activities not being undertaken.
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