George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr, earlier in the debate you inquired as to some answers to questions that you had placed on notice in estimates. I now indicate to you formally, as I indicated to you informally earlier in the day, that the information that you sought in estimates is being assembled. I am told that most of the work required to respond to your question has been completed and that the information that has been assembled is now being checked and will be provided to you as soon as that has been done. I also indicate—and this is not something I indicated to you informally, but I should say it for the record—that my instructions are that the date set by the relevant estimates committee for the provision of answers to questions taken on notice has not yet expired. You should assume, Senator Carr, that the information will be provided to you on or before the date set for the provision of answers to questions taken on notice.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the comments you have made, Senator Brandis. I take them in the spirit in which you have presented them, and I acknowledge that has been the private position that you have held. However, I draw to your attention the commitment that the department gave to have this material provided on the day of the estimates hearing, not the day of return for answers to questions taken on notice. It was my understanding that I would have that information provided to me. It is not an extensive question; it is a percentage figure. The answer I am seeking is the official calculation of the percentage increase by this government for non-government schools—just as the officials have announced that they have provided that information to the government for government schools. So it is on that basis. I was advised, and I was clearly under the impression, that the information would be provided on the day of the estimates hearing. I asked questions several times to that effect, so that I could have no misunderstanding about that. So it is not a question of waiting until the relevant time. If the information is available, I seek from you an assurance that it will be delivered to me immediately.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr, I am not in a position to give you the assurance that it will be delivered to you immediately. Senator Carr, may I say—and I think you know this—that, since I have been a minister, I have taken a very punctilious view about the obligations of the government to respond to questions properly put and taken on notice by departments in estimates. I am of the view that the government has obligations to the parliament, which, in particular, means obligations to the opposition, and that this process would be made a nonsense of unless those obligations were discharged. I do not think you doubt my good faith about this, Senator Carr. You have me at a disadvantage. I do not recollect the particular question and I do not recollect the particular undertaking, but, if you say so, Senator Carr, I of course take you at your word. If the undertaking was given that the information would be provided that day then it ought to have been provided on that day, and you are entitled to expect that the public servants would have used their best endeavours to get it to you. All I can tell you is that my advice is that the information has been assembled. Obviously, it was not provided to you on the day, and there may well have been very good reasons why it was not able to be provided to you on the day. However, I am told that your information has been assembled, that it is being checked and that it will be provided as soon as that has been done.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the answer. If the information is provided to me as soon as it has been checked, I will be more than happy. I am concerned that it not be dragged out, because there is an unfortunate record here of a very large number of questions from this department not being provided to the committee within the designated time. At the last estimates, I had to go through the situation where material was provided to me on the day of the estimates or the day before the estimates, which was well in excess of the time that had been allotted for the return of questions on notice. In this particular case, I have absolutely no doubt that Mr Burmester gave me those undertakings. I checked this on several occasions, and I was told on several occasions that the officers were still working on it. I would have thought, given that I am not unknown to the officers, that if there had been a problem I would have been advised of it.

I have taken this opportunity to draw the minister’s attention to this difficulty and to draw to the attention of the departmental officers that I am not going to be taken for granted in this way. I do not think the opposition should be treated in this way. We are entitled to information. This is a very simple request. I take your commitment on the basis on which it has been offered. If that information is provided to me as soon as it is available, I will be only too grateful.

Bill agreed to.

Bill reported without amendment; report adopted.