Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)        under the agreement reached between the Commonwealth Government and the states, stimulus funding under the Government’s Nation Building and Jobs Plan is to be additional to existing state spending efforts,

(a) if all states and territories have complied with the requirement to maintain their spending effort, the committee does not see how any damage could be caused by providing evidence to confirm this fact,

(b) if any state or territory has not complied with the requirement to maintain its funding effort, it is an explicit feature of the National Partnership Agreement on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that such a failure may be made public, and

(c) state and territory capital spending on schools will ultimately be made public through various budget papers and reports and the committee is merely seeking this information in a more timely fashion in order to progress its current inquiry; and

(ii)       as part of its inquiry into the Primary Schools for the 21st Century school building program, the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee is seeking to ensure that states and territories have maintained their planned spending on primary schools and have not reduced their spending as a consequence of receiving stimulus funding through the Government’s Nation Building and Jobs Plan,

(a) if all states and territories have complied with the requirement to maintain their spending effort, the committee does not see how any damage could be caused by providing evidence to confirm this fact,

(b) if any state or territory has not complied with the requirement to maintain its funding effort, it is an explicit feature of the National Partnership Agreement on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that such a failure may be made public, and

(c) state and territory capital spending on schools will ultimately be made public through various budget papers and reports and the committee is merely seeking this information in a more timely fashion in order to progress its current inquiry; and

(iii)      the committee received evidence in November 2009 that maintenance of spending effort is being monitored through quarterly reports by the states and territories to Heads of Treasury,

(a) if all states and territories have complied with the requirement to maintain their spending effort, the committee does not see how any damage could be caused by providing evidence to confirm this fact,

(b) if any state or territory has not complied with the requirement to maintain its funding effort, it is an explicit feature of the National Partnership Agreement on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that such a failure may be made public, and

(c) state and territory capital spending on schools will ultimately be made public through various budget papers and reports and the committee is merely seeking this information in a more timely fashion in order to progress its current inquiry; and

(iv)      the committee wrote to the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury (Dr Ken Henry) in December 2009 requesting copies of these quarterly reports,

(a) if all states and territories have complied with the requirement to maintain their spending effort, the committee does not see how any damage could be caused by providing evidence to confirm this fact,

(b) if any state or territory has not complied with the requirement to maintain its funding effort, it is an explicit feature of the National Partnership Agreement on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that such a failure may be made public, and

(c) state and territory capital spending on schools will ultimately be made public through various budget papers and reports and the committee is merely seeking this information in a more timely fashion in order to progress its current inquiry; and

(v)       the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury wrote back to the committee, also in December 2009, declining to provide the reports on the basis that to do so would not be in the public interest as it would damage relations between the Commonwealth and the states, but noting that a decision on whether to provide the reports was ultimately a matter for the Treasurer (Mr Swan),

(a) if all states and territories have complied with the requirement to maintain their spending effort, the committee does not see how any damage could be caused by providing evidence to confirm this fact,

(b) if any state or territory has not complied with the requirement to maintain its funding effort, it is an explicit feature of the National Partnership Agreement on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that such a failure may be made public, and

(c) state and territory capital spending on schools will ultimately be made public through various budget papers and reports and the committee is merely seeking this information in a more timely fashion in order to progress its current inquiry; and

(vi)      the committee then wrote to the Treasurer on 8 February 2010, noting its disagreement with the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury’s assessment that provision of the reports would damage relations between the Commonwealth and the states, and requesting provision of the quarterly reports by no later than 26 February 2010,

(a) if all states and territories have complied with the requirement to maintain their spending effort, the committee does not see how any damage could be caused by providing evidence to confirm this fact,

(b) if any state or territory has not complied with the requirement to maintain its funding effort, it is an explicit feature of the National Partnership Agreement on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that such a failure may be made public, and

(c) state and territory capital spending on schools will ultimately be made public through various budget papers and reports and the committee is merely seeking this information in a more timely fashion in order to progress its current inquiry; and

(vii)     having received no formal response, the committee again wrote to the Treasurer on 15 March 2010, asking that the reports be provided by 26 March 2010,

(a) if all states and territories have complied with the requirement to maintain their spending effort, the committee does not see how any damage could be caused by providing evidence to confirm this fact,

(b) if any state or territory has not complied with the requirement to maintain its funding effort, it is an explicit feature of the National Partnership Agreement on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that such a failure may be made public, and

(c) state and territory capital spending on schools will ultimately be made public through various budget papers and reports and the committee is merely seeking this information in a more timely fashion in order to progress its current inquiry; and

(viii)    when the Treasurer finally responded to the committee’s correspondence on 20 April 2010, he refused the committee’s request on the basis that to release the quarterly reports (either publicly or in camera) could reasonably be expected to cause damage to relations with the states and would therefore not be in the public interest, and

(a) if all states and territories have complied with the requirement to maintain their spending effort, the committee does not see how any damage could be caused by providing evidence to confirm this fact,

(b) if any state or territory has not complied with the requirement to maintain its funding effort, it is an explicit feature of the National Partnership Agreement on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that such a failure may be made public, and

(c) state and territory capital spending on schools will ultimately be made public through various budget papers and reports and the committee is merely seeking this information in a more timely fashion in order to progress its current inquiry; and

(ix)       the committee continues to disagree with the grounds advanced by the Treasurer for failing to provide the reports, for the following reasons:

(a) if all states and territories have complied with the requirement to maintain their spending effort, the committee does not see how any damage could be caused by providing evidence to confirm this fact,

(b) if any state or territory has not complied with the requirement to maintain its funding effort, it is an explicit feature of the National Partnership Agreement on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that such a failure may be made public, and

(c) state and territory capital spending on schools will ultimately be made public through various budget papers and reports and the committee is merely seeking this information in a more timely fashion in order to progress its current inquiry; and

(b) orders that there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Treasurer, no later than 4 pm on Thursday, 13 May 2010, the quarterly reports as requested.

Question agreed to.

Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—The government opposes this motion. We recognise that Senator Cash, with the support of the coalition and the Greens in the chamber, has a majority. We will not be calling a division.