James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

It's a shocking revelation. I'm sure that will make the front page of the Australiantomorrow. What is interesting is that we've had another point of order in relation to Labor's discomfort about being caught out. Labor has been caught out because they aren't answering questions. They aren't being accountable to the taxpayers and to the voters of Australia. This is what this chamber is for. This chamber is one of the most powerful upper houses in the world. It is here to hold the executive to account. It is here to ensure that, through the mechanisms of the estimates process, questions being asked on the day and then questions taken on notice, through the orders for the production of documents, the executive is held to account. I will put this warning to the executive: if the executive insists on taking questions on notice—which is their right during the estimates, that, if public servants and ministers are unable to answer questions, they can take them on notice—if there's a perception that the process is being abused, then perhaps we need to extend the estimates process to allow further questioning of the executive, of ministers and public servants, so that they can answer the questions.

Here's a radical idea that I haven't taken past the party room or the leadership—it's always dangerous when I think on my feet—that, if the Labor Party are going to so much abuse the estimates process by refusing to answer questions on notice, a week later, after the first estimates week is finished, we come back for all those questions taken on notice and they can answer them in the room. Why don't we do that? Let's split it up. After one week, if they can't answer the questions and need to take them on notice, they come back a week later and we put the questions to them then. It's very disappointing that the questions on notice are not being answered. It is being used as a tactic to avoid scrutiny by the opposition—and when I say 'the opposition', I mean non-government members of this chamber. If this government continues down this path of snubbing its nose at accountability and transparency, if this government continues down this path of trying to hide information from the taxpayers and the voters of Australia through a possible perceived abuse of the process, then perhaps we need a greater conversation about how this chamber operates through the estimates process about how the executive is held to account. I'm pretty sure the last thing that any minister or public servant would want to do is to deal with estimates for one week, have a week off, and then be dragged back again to answer those questions. I'm pretty sure they don't want to do that. I say to the agencies who have not answered the questions, to the government departments who have not answered these questions—