Andrew Murray (WA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

The remarks I make will be brief. This report from the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration is entitled Transparency and accountability of Commonwealth public funding and expenditure. The title will probably make those who are more interested in the lively side of public policy move on. Yet, in my opinion, this is an extremely important report by the committee. It is one which has engaged serious thinkers in this area across the community and one which has engaged the members of the committee to a level and degree of participation, interaction and involvement which is unusual, even by the high standards of the Senate. When the draft report came out, no fewer than four members of the committee made very substantial and detailed additional contributions. I note that the unanimous report that has been produced as a consequence has 19 far-reaching recommendations which are in the interests of any government because they go right to the heart of introducing measures which will improve the nature, function and efficacy of our system.

The transparency and accountability of Commonwealth public funding and expenditure is right at the heart of parliamentary life. Those who understand the history of parliaments know that this is the battlefield on which hundreds and thousands of people have lost their lives. It is about the right of people to determine how they are to be taxed and how that taxation is to be spent by those who govern them. The fact that the history of striving for good government goes back centuries and is steeped in blood should remind us that, as dull as this may seem to those who seek other pastures of interest, this is material which goes right to the very heart of our parliamentary function. I therefore commend the report to those members of the fourth estate and of the community who are serious minded. I want to express particular thanks to the chair, the acting chair and the deputy chair of the committee for being able to contribute to what is a genuine cross-party effort, which, if adopted by the government, I think will result in markedly improved systems and standards in Commonwealth funding and expenditure.