Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

As Senator Payne I am sure would acknowledge, the COAG process under this government has been highly active and has a broad agenda of work that seeks to build better relations between various levels of government. We are the first government to take local government seriously and we try to build them into that work as well—feedback you would have got if you had spoken to any of the local government representatives who were in Canberra last week. This government does have a large agenda of work for the states through the COAG processes, be it health, education or a whole range of other services. Clearly, the states are required as part of that process to provide information to the Commonwealth to assist it in those negotiations and that work. The senator seems to be making some suggestion that some of the information that the states are providing is dated. I am not aware of those claims, if that is the claim she is making. The states are responsible for bringing to the table up-to-date information on their programs and how they are administering those and the impacts of those programs that inform debate. If she has a particular concern about a particular piece of information or a concern about whether there is up-to-date data on a particular subject, I am happy to take that up with the Prime Minister on notice and see if I can assist her.