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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-05-08 Daily Xml
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Motions

Budget and Finance Committee

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (16:30): I seek leave to move the motion in amended form.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I move:

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

2. That the standing orders of the Legislative Council in relation to select committees be applied and accordingly—

(a) That the committee consist of seven members, that the quorum of members necessary to be present at all meetings of the committee be fixed at four members and that standing order 389 be so far suspended as to enable the Chairperson of the committee to have a deliberative vote only;

(b) That this council permits the committee to authorise the disclosure or publication, as it sees fit, of any evidence or documents presented to the committee prior to any such evidence being reported to the council; and

(c) That standing order 396 be suspended to enable strangers to be admitted when the committee is examining witnesses, unless the committee otherwise resolves, but they shall be excluded when the committee is deliberating.

3. That members of the council who are not members of the committee may, at the discretion of the Chairperson, participate in proceedings of the committee but may not vote, move any motions or be counted for the purposes of a quorum.

4. That members of the council who are ministers of the Crown are unable to serve on the committee or participate in committee hearings, except as a witness called before the committee.

5. That a full-time research officer position be made available to assist the work of the committee.

I thank honourable members for their forbearance in working our way through what was going to be two sets of further amendments to be moved by two separate members. I have now moved the motion, with the government's agreement, to incorporate both those sets of amendments. The bottom line is that there have been two motions moved, one by the government today, because we do believe in the important work of the Budget and Finance Committee. It was something that was originally moved in about 2007 by myself and we believe, on behalf of the Legislative Council and the people of South Australia, that the committee has done much good work in holding governments, ministers and departments to account.

We said in opposition that we believed, if ever in government—we did not know that it would take that long to get back into government—that this was an important committee that should continue, irrespective of the colour and nature of the government of the day. The fact that we have moved the motion as a government motion in Government Business is indicative of our good faith in that particular political ideal. The honourable Leader of the Opposition had moved a similar motion for private members' business tomorrow. The amendment that I have moved today incorporates the differences in the honourable member's motion and the government's motion.

Put simply, there was one amendment that in essence confirms what has been the existing convention: that ministers do not serve on the committee. It was certainly never the government's intention that ministers would serve on the committee, so we were happy to support that. The wording has changed slightly from the honourable Leader of the Opposition's motion, in that it would have prevented a minister from actually sitting in the public gallery and observing the proceedings of the Budget and Finance Committee, as some former Labor ministers did during the past 10 years. The Leader of the Opposition indicated that was not the opposition's intention in terms of the drafting, so the new draft allows a minister to observe if he or she wishes to attend a public hearing of the committee but not to sit on the committee as a member of the committee.

The other change was that the research officer position has now incorporated the words 'full-time'. I remember passing the motion 'full-time' many years ago but, under the former government, for many years we did not get any full-time or part-time research officer position. I think in the last 12 to 18 months we had a part-time position that was essentially about 15 or 20 hours' work per week. Essentially, it will be left up to the committee and the committee Chair, together with the Legislative Council and the Legislative Council budget, to make provision for that. We as a government certainly believe that, for the committee to do the required work, it should get the assistance of someone with technical expertise in the research officer position.

The final issue, which has been the subject of much negotiation between all parties and individuals in the Legislative Council, is that the committee has grown from five to six to seven members. The subsequent motion that I will move in terms of the membership of seven will be that there be two government members, two opposition members and three crossbench members, as I understand it.

At one stage it appeared that there might only be support—not from the government members, but support from other members—for only one government member being on the committee. I place on the record the reasons that we would have strongly opposed that, because we have always, in opposition, supported the notion of the government having two members on the Budget and Finance Committee. It is one of the harder-working committees of the parliament. It meets at least every two weeks. If, as a government, you were to have only one member, when he or she inevitably was sick, away or travelling, it would mean the government would not be able to have a member on the committee.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Of course, the previous committee had a very hardworking Chair; it won't be replicated again, I wouldn't think.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I won't be diverted. It would be a position where it would be unfair for the government not to be able to have representation on the committee if we were, in essence, by vote of this chamber, reduced to just a single member. As we understood it, the only compromise was to increase the size of the committee to six and then ultimately to seven.

With that, I indicate the government's strong support for the Budget and Finance Committee. We wish the committee members who are about to be nominated and elected well in the task that they have ahead. It is an important task in terms of keeping government departments to account in terms of their financial administration of the state. We look forward to their ongoing work on the committee.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (16:38): I thank the honourable Leader of the Government in this place for moving this motion. I also thank him for moving it in an amended form such that it incorporates the aspects of the motion that I had given notice to move in private members' business tomorrow. I can indicate, on the basis of the amended form in which this motion has been moved, that I will not be proceeding with moving my motion in private members' business as I had originally given notice.

It is a committee that has worked hard. I was a former government member on that committee, as a backbencher, when I first came into this place, and it does work hard. It plays an important role. I look forward to the committee continuing to play that important role. I thank not just the government for moving this motion but also the crossbenchers who have participated in a lot of discussion about this committee. I thank the crossbenchers for that discussion. I look forward to serving on this committee and holding the new government to account in relation to financial matters of this state.

Motion carried.

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