John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

The President has received a letter from Senator Sherry proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion, namely:

The weak financial discipline of the Howard Government, and in particular, the failure of the Minister for Finance and Administration (Senator Minchin) in view of:

(a)

the recent audit office report that found more than one third of agencies administering programs had no performance indicators to address their effectiveness, quality or cost;

(b)

the billion dollar policy announcements:

(i)

that blow out in cost due to being insufficiently funded,

(ii)

with no public disclosure of ongoing cost or impact on revenue.

(iii)

that are not given appropriate detailed examination due to a failure to submit to Cabinet as required in the Government’s own Cabinet Handbook or Charter of Budget Honesty.

I call upon those senators who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today’s debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.