Parliamentary Committees

Budget and Finance Committee

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (17:03): I move:

That the report on the operations of the committee, 2022-2024, be noted.

May I first thank the former committee secretary Peter Dimopoulos for his tireless work in his time as secretary—it was a pleasure working with him; secondly our new committee secretary, Emma Johnston, who has taken on the committee and for all of her hard work; and of course our Hansard team, who ensure every word is heard. Our work as parliamentarians is not possible without the support of our administrators.

To the committee members, a big thankyou for your participation and hard work on this committee: the Hon. Mira El Dannawi, the Hon. Tammy Franks, the Hon. Laura Henderson, the Hon. Michelle Lensink, the Hon. Reggie Martin and the Hon. Frank Pangallo, as well as former members the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos and the Hon. Stephen Wade. I would also like to thank other members in this chamber who have attended different meetings: you are always welcome to attend. Finally, it would be remiss of me not to thank the many witnesses, departments, agencies and those behind the scenes who prepare the work and answer our questions. You are contributing to transparency in our state, and we thank you for your time and effort.

On 28 March 2007, the Legislative Council's Budget and Finance Committee was first appointed pursuant to a resolution of this council. Since then the committee continues to be re-established at the beginning of each parliamentary term. The first terms of reference lays out the intent of the committee:

That a committee, to be called the Budget and Finance Committee, be appointed to monitor and scrutinise all matters relating to the state and the financial administration of the state, any related policy matter and other related matter.

Why is this committee so important? The government of the day is entrusted to manage this great state's finances and administration. As opposition and crossbench it is our job to hold the government to account and to monitor and scrutinise the operations of all government agencies.

This year, Budget and Finance unveiled some significant concerns across many departments. One standout that comes to mind was when Rik Morris stated, 'there was never a promise to fix ramping.' Another, which has been an ongoing concern and which has been raised in recent times, is the white elephant that is the hydrogen plant experiment. Somehow the almost $600 million project has had an increase of over 50 staff with no increase in budget. One that still baffles me was the Health CEO Robyn Lawrence—

The Hon. B.R. Hood interjecting:

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: Yes—who said that an almost $1 billion overspend in Health was not a budget blowout. Most frustrating are the serious delays at times of some, but not all, departments: some are better than others when it comes to providing answers to questions on notice. I look forward to receiving the answers to questions on notice on hydrogen—that are some months late—in due course. The purpose of the committee is to keep our state transparent—

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting:

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: Yes, I will not be—and for those who get paid by the taxpayer to be held to account. I look forward to continuing to chair this committee, with our first meeting in 2025 with the Department of Treasury and Finance, scheduled for next Monday 10 February.

Motion carried.