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| Ian Gilfillan Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
Parliament Index |
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Legislative
Council |
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| Ian Gilfillan Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
Parliament Index |
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DELAYS IN REPLIES TO QUESTIONS
The Hon. IAN GILFILLAN: I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Treasurer (as leader of the government in this place) a question about delay in answers to questions.
Leave granted. The Hon. IAN GILFILLAN: In some ways, it was rather fortuitous that a previous question laid the ground work. The Advertiser of 4 April this year published an article entitled, `We are accountable, says Olsen.' The article began as follows:The article was accompanied by a chart showing how few parliamentary questions asked of ministers had been answered within a reasonable time frame—or answered at all. The Hon. Diana Laidlaw and the honourable Treasurer fared reasonably well by comparison. In terms of questions answered and response times, Ministers Armitage and Brown were at the bottom of the list. In view of the Premier's promise that his government is open and accountable, I looked back today to the questions without notice that had been asked by the Australian Democrats over a 12 month period. I selected questions asked between May 1999 and May 2000, which means that they were asked between six and 18 months ago, and I have extracted from the list a few examples of questions that, to this date, remain unanswered. I hope that the Attorney has a chance to take note of this, because he did appear to expect prompt response to questions. From that point of view, I commend his approach. The following questions have been ignored by the government for six to 18 months:Premier John Olsen has described his government as `open and accountable.' He has described claims of holding back information and using loopholes to avoid releasing information as `blatant political grandstanding'.
3 May 2000. from me, expiation of parking offences.
3 May 2000 from Mike Elliott: environmental impact studies on the Port Stanvac oil spill
19 November 1999 from Mike Elliott, the National Parks ‘Agenda’
19 November 1999 from Mike Elliott, the use of private consultants on native vegetation clearance
16 November 1999 from me: taxpayers’ money committed to out-of-court settlements
20 October 1999 from Mike Elliott, the possibility of Schools "opting out" of Partnerships 21
4 August 1999 from Sandra Kanck, oil filters going to landfill instead of being recycled
3 August 1999 from Mike Elliott, the impact of planning and development on Adelaide's water quality
27 July 1999 from Mike Elliott, the Boral Linwood Quarry at Marino
3 June 1999 from Sandra Kanck, the lack of filtered water at Houghton and Inglewood
3 June 1999 From Mike Elliott, employment resumes and personal privacy
I do hope that the Treasurer, behind his paper, is taking note of what was only part of a very long litany of non-answered questions by a government that actually portrays itself as one open and accountable and only too eager to answer questions. My questions to the Treasurer, therefore, are: 1. When can we expect answers to each of the questions referred to above and why has the information sought in each of these cases been withheld for six to 18 months? 2. Is it in each case the result of tardiness, obstinacy or a policy of official secrecy? 3. Whichever is the official excuse in each case, how can the government still maintain its claim to be open and accountable?The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer): I thank the honourable member for his question. I will refer it to the appropriate ministers and bring back replies as speedily as I can.
