House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-03 Daily Xml

Contents

TRUMPS

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:47): Will the Minister for Transport inform the house why he allowed the $17.4 million TRUMPS system to go live when he was fully aware of the numerous problems with the system? In his supplementary report for the year ended 30 June 2008, which was tabled yesterday, the Auditor-General stated:

The implementation of the TRUMPS system did not adequately address the critical component of financial control accountability and reconciliation. This component of the system was not fully functional and effective when the system went live. This significant deficiency meant that DTEI did not exercise effective control over the completeness and the accuracy of financial transactions processed and recorded by the system during the year.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:48): The proposition from the member for Morphett is that I knew it would not work but I made them do it anyway—because, let's face it, I like getting in trouble. It's the best fun in the world!

For the benefit of the member for Morphett, the TRUMPS system was commenced with a lot of questioning from me as to how it was going to work, because such complex systems had been started up in Western Australia and, I think, Tasmania with a number of serious teething problems. So, it was a matter of great interest to me, and can I say the people involved believed that they had everything right.

The issues that have been identified by the Auditor-General are issues of reconciliation. The capacity to reconcile accurately and quickly under this system is much greater than the previous ones, but we accept what has been said by the Auditor-General and made changes as a result of that.

Mr Hanna: He was talking about inappropriate access as well.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Ask a question about it. I am more than happy to answer. I invite the honourable member to do so. I think he should. It is this system of questioning they have: he gets up and includes a piece of blatant debating in his question and then—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: No, he said, 'Why did you start it when you knew it wouldn't work?' or words to that effect.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I invite the member to go and read Hansard. I hope you can read better than you can listen, but I can—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The fact is that, despite your allegation, I did not start up TRUMPS knowing that it was not going to work properly.