Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've got to say: desperation comes to the fore. There's a pattern emerging here from the government. They talked a big game before the election. Then they come into this place, having been elected, slip-sliding away from their promises left, right and centre. There's no mention of the $275 energy price reduction promised by the government in this place anymore. That's gone, and gone with it is any sense of transparency.

Senator Ciccone comes in here and puts on a bright face. I've been here nearly 20 years, Senator Ciccone, and I've never seen a year where there's been only three weeks of estimates. Senator Ciccone, can I tell you, additional estimates in February is not just about MYEFO. It's about annual reports. It's about a range of other documents that are tabled and published in the parliament, so that the Senate can scrutinise those documents and processes. That's what it is about. The government tries to narrow down the target and narrow down the story to suit their rhetoric, but really what's happening is that there is a 25 per cent cut in scrutiny next year.

Senator, your maths is pretty shabby, because normally there's four weeks of estimates in a sitting year. As I said, I've been here a little while and seen a few years and sat around the table for a few years of estimates. It's a 25 per cent cut next year in scrutiny by this government. They said they were going to have more scrutiny, they wanted to be a more open government, they wanted to see more scrutiny, but that's not what we see in practice.

Senator Wong said during her answer to Senator Birmingham's question that we wouldn't answer a question about sports grants in estimates. I sat there through all those estimates as sports minister and I answered every question. I underwent forensic questioning from Senator Farrell at every estimates. I answered every question. So Senator Wong can make the accusation, but I was there. I answered every question. They try to deflect, they try to blame someone else, but at the end of the day they're not interested in scrutiny. They're trying to slide from scrutiny. They talk about us coming to the chamber, which is the process, with support of other parties around the chamber in respect of the sitting schedule. Yet there was no consultation with the opposition with respect to what the sitting schedule might look like.

In circumstances where there have been major changes or significant changes to the way the schedule looked, there's always been consultation. I don't expect Senator Ciccone to understand that. He hasn't had that level of experience in that process. But there have been plenty of occasions when there have been significant changes to the sitting schedule that have been done in consultation, particularly with the opposition, so that we knew that we could get agreement in the chamber and, in fact, sometimes under the threat of using the chamber.

But what we have this time is a 25 per cent cut in scrutiny through estimates. Additional Fridays, for which there is no standing orders or schedule of programs, so do we get a question time? You can't answer that question. There's no process been undergone there. How come this hasn't been referred to the Procedure Committee so there can be a process? There's no process. It is a complete shambles. The government try to pass it off by saying 'Well, there's no MYEFO so we don't need to do it'. They're not looking at all the processes of the government that are scrutinised in estimates, including annual reports and other reports that are tabled in this place and the opportunity for senators across the whole parliament to scrutinise. We should have that opportunity. They talk about transparency but they don't practice it. There's the secret report that we hear about today about the impacts on the coal industry from the government's policies. They don't want communities to understand what the impacts of those policies are going to be. They talked a big game before the election about what might be, what they might do. They slip and slide, try to blame everybody else. The real pattern is that it's always someone else's fault. It could be the department. What was it we heard the other day? It was a typo in one particular circumstance. They're not prepared to provide the scrutiny and transparency they talked about before the election.

Question agreed to.