Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I am really speaking about accountability and how, in a sense, this great chamber is the principal force for accountability in the Commonwealth parliament and, indeed, probably in all houses of parliament in this nation. Senator Payne’s contribution as chair of that committee showed in effect, with respect to the terrorism laws, that the House of Representatives will pass laws as demanded by the executive, those laws will hit the Senate and the Senate, through its committee system, will reform laws, put forward amendments and, let’s face it, make those laws better. That is what this chamber does and it does it very well.

The third, and perhaps the most important, accountability mechanism is the estimates process. It is not that I was a member of the executive for very long—it was a very short period. However, members of the executive frequently forget that, in fact, constitutionally they are accountable to the parliament. It is the parliament that votes money to the executive and the executive is accountable to the parliament, not the other way around. Sometimes—and this is not intended to be partisan at all—ministers of all colours forget that and refuse to answer questions, yet it is the parliament that votes money, the people’s money, to the executive; it is not the executive. These are all accountability mechanisms. Finally, I come to question time. I know you are excited by that, Mr Acting Deputy President.