Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The Killing Season! Apparently we are going to get the expanded book version of the The Killing Season. I will go to the index to see how often Senator Carr and Senator Wong come up in dispatches together.

I did not hear Senator Carr complain when I was not able to get answers from Senator Wong, by the way, in relation to the climate change modelling that was undertaken by the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments. I remember spending weeks and weeks and every single question time asking questions about when we were going to see the modelling and the underlying assumptions—not just in relation to climate change, incidentally, but also in relation to the mining tax. Remember the mining tax—the tax which we always said would not raise any money, the tax for which we asked the Labor government to provide us with the underlying assumptions and the modelling information? Of course, the then Treasurer, Mr Swan, went running for the hills when we asked him for information which we knew would prove that that was a tax which would not raise any money when Labor had already promised to spend all of the money that they thought it would raise, and more. So we will contrast our track record against yours any day. When it comes to openness and transparency, we will put our track record against your track record any day, Senator Carr.

I am very confident that Senator Sinodinos, representing the illustrious and very impressive senior minister in Minister Pyne, will, here in this chamber, provide the answers to the questions that you have put on notice during the last Senate estimates period in a timely fashion, while, of course, being focused on making sure that the information we provide to you is accurate and factual, that it does not mislead and that it informs rather than hinders the public debate.

I have just received some very interesting information which was published on 17 April 2013. This relates to the Gillard government's lack of accountability in Senate estimates. Here we go: figures supplied by the Senate clerk's office—this is in April 2013—show that 58 per cent of questions on notice were still outstanding after two months, despite a requirement that all questions be answered by 12 April. So this was exactly three years ago. This was the tail end of your government—the government in which you were a senior cabinet minister for a period, at least, until you somehow got caught up in the wars, or The Killing Season. Somewhere along the way you got involved in The Killing Season. Senator Carr was a victim of The Killing Season somewhere along the way. But here we are: figures supplied by the Senate clerk's office back in 2013 show that 58 per cent of questions on notice were still outstanding after two months, despite a requirement that all questions be answered by 12 April. Five portfolios and agencies—resources, energy and tourism; Austrade; immigration and citizenship; infrastructure and transport; and regional Australia, local government, arts and sport—failed to answer any questions whatsoever by the due date! Not a single question was answered by the due date under the Gillard and then the Rudd Labor government, and Senator Carr comes in here and complains about our performance when it comes to the timeliness of providing answers to questions put to us! Really, it is quite ridiculous.

I am pretty sure that Senator Wong is not very pleased with Senator Carr for having initiated this debate here today, because she, out of all ministers, actually would well remember that she has a very bad track record when it comes to answering questions taken on notice during Senate estimates or, indeed, during Senate question time. I spent a bit of time with Senator Wong in Senate estimates when I was in opposition, and I have learnt a little bit about how to handle questions in Senate estimates from Senator Wong. Let me tell you, again, that I am still waiting for a whole heap of answers that Senator Wong and, indeed, Senator Conroy took on notice during my period as an opposition shadow minister.

The motion moved by Senator Carr is, of course, about two main issues. It is, firstly, about the proposition that somehow Senator Sinodinos has been inappropriately tardy in providing answers. I believe that I have addressed this by contrasting our strong and effective performance on this front with that of the previous Labor government. Of course, the other part of the issue raised by Senator Carr wrongly asserted that there have been all these significant cuts to the CSIRO, which would undermine their capacity to undertake important climate change modelling. Let me again refute this. The government are providing a record $3.1 billion of funding in the current budget forward estimates period to the CSIRO over the 2015-16 forward estimates. The CSIRO is working to do things better, to ensure that the money that is made available to it—ultimately, by taxpayers—is spent as effectively and as efficiently as possible. That is what you would expect a good government to do. That is what the government are doing. I do not really understand why Senator Carr would be coming into this chamber and complaining about the fact that we are doing our job the way that the Australian taxpayers would expect us to perform our job.

In closing, let me say again that, given Senator Carr was a senior minister in a government that religiously failed to even try to answer questions—to the point where a whole series of departments did not answer by the due date one single question that was put to them in Senate estimates—it is really quite extraordinary that Senator Carr would have the chutzpah to come into this chamber and complain about our performance. (Time expired)