Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My contribution is going to be quite short. I just want people who are listening to the proceedings, including the people in the gallery, to understand and appreciate what this debate is about. This institution of the Senate is a house of review; it is a house of scrutiny. We're all sent here as senators representing our respective states and territories to do our best to play our role as an important check and balance on the power of executive government. That means it's incumbent upon us to ask the questions that should be asked, to probe the government and to get the information that we need in order to put the uncomfortable questions to the executive government. That's in the best interests of our whole Australian democracy.

As part of that process, the Senate estimates process is absolutely critical. That means we have different committees, such as the economics committee, the legal and constitutional affairs legislation committee, of which I'm deputy chair, and other committees. During the Senate estimates process, we have the opportunity to ask questions in relation to any matter involving the expenditure of government funds, which basically means anything involving payments of money—your taxpayer dollars. It is incredibly important when we ask questions in the context of those committees that we get the answers back as quickly as possible so we can ask the follow-up questions.

What has been happening—and Senator Hume has given detailed examples—is that questions have been asked of the relevant officials, particularly Treasury; they have drafted the answers to those questions; they have provided them to the Treasurer, who is from my home state of Queensland, the member for Rankin; and they've sat in his office. In one of the examples given by my colleague Senator Hume, the answer sat in the Treasurer's office for 134 days. Why? I know the Treasurer is extremely active in his electorate. I often run into him at various events on his patch—

always being cooperative and collaborative, Senator Farrell, as I am.