Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Smith refers to Senate order 767, which I think was agreed to by the Senate in February. There was a letter from the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, the Hon. Dr Andrew Leigh MP, provided on the following day. He advised the Senate in that correspondence that the requested documents could not be produced by the deadline and that work to compile and review the necessary material was actively being progressed. The letter confirms that it is the government's intention to comply with the order and notes that a response is expected to be tabled once those necessary steps are complete. It is important to note that this government, with a demonstrated commitment to standards of integrity and transparency and accountability far stronger than that of the previous government, is working through the necessary steps that are required to comply with this order.

The numbers of Senate estimates questions on notice, parliamentary questions on notice and orders for the production of documents have all skyrocketed to an industrial scale in the 47th Parliament. In fact, the number of OPDs has also doubled during the 47th Parliament and the scope of these requests has also expanded significantly. It's important that we consider whether answering all of them is the best use of public sector resources. For example, a recent order agreed to on the motion of Senator Kovacic required the return of tens of thousands of pages of documents. I hope senators paid attention to them and sat down and read them all carefully! It took public servants, who the opposition treat with contempt when they provide these draft orders with massive scopes, thousands and thousands of hours at an enormous cost to the taxpayer. However, I can advise in this instance that the documents requested in relation to OPD 767 are being actively progressed and that the government expects to provide them soon.