Page 2598 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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The Chief Minister has an opportunity to stamp her authority and her leadership on her period as Chief Minister. This report is a key report. It could have been a key platform for her to do so. But I note in regard just to some of the machinery-type recommendations on the first couple of pages, that instead of genuinely being concerned and delivering more openness and more accountability, the Chief Minister just fobs it off.
The first two recommendations—recommendation 1 and recommendation 2—recommend that all questions be answered and, if they are not answered, that they be transferred to the notice paper. The government simply notes them. The Chief Minister could have said: “We are interested in openness. We will answer these questions. We do agree that they go onto the notice paper and will answer them when they go there.” But she says, “It is not our responsibility.”
Mr Corbell: It is not for us to agree. It is a standing order question.
MR SMYTH: But it is about leadership. It is about saying, “Yes, we accept the role of the Assembly in this but we will answer the questions and we will do it quickly.”
The third recommendation says that when additional material is provided to a committee, at least seven copies or sets be provided. This was aimed at the government because of the way they deliver information to the committee and to members. But again, the Chief Minister throws it back to the Assembly. The response states:
This is a matter for the Legislative Assembly, and could be incorporated as a requirement within Committee Procedures and Guidelines.
What that response should have said is, “The government accepts this and will comply because we believe in honesty and openness and accountability.” But you will not find that in this report from my brief skim so far, Mr Speaker. Recommendation 4 states:
The Committee recommends that documents prepared for use in a particular hearing be circulated …
Again, it is noted by the government and we get the pat answer:
This is a matter for the Legislative Assembly, and could be incorporated as a requirement within Committee Procedures and Guidelines.
Again, the Chief Minister had the opportunity to honour her commitment to be more open and more accountable by saying, “Yes, we agree. We will make sure we are prepared and we will give you the information so that you can be prepared as members of the committee and members of the Assembly and we can have a better debate, because both sides are informed.” But, no, the Chief Minister is just going to hide behind the Assembly guidelines. And so it goes on, Mr Speaker.
I notice that the Chief Minister said that they had agreed or not agreed to a certain number of the recommendations about the government office building. I cannot find
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