By Noosa Mp Sandy Bolton
Spring has gloriously sprung, heralding new growth, hope and an end to a month of challenges, from Covid lockdowns through to that favourite ‘Estimates Hearings’, or what at times it feels like ‘guestimates’ Hearings!
For those unfamiliar, these follow on from the State Budget and many late nights analysing Service Delivery Statements. Over two weeks, MP’s put questions to the Ministers of each portfolio, followed by the tabling of Committee reports with MPs’ Statement of Reservations included. Finally, the delivery of speeches at the following Parliamentary sitting giving voice to budget glee and pleas, which can be found at fb.watch/7SP0AOQIht/
As experienced over many months in communities across QLD and Australia, Covid disrupted the hearings, ultimately leading to my attendance at the Legal Affairs and Safety Committee Hearing via Zoom to ask questions of the Attorney-General and the Minister for Police.
These included around funding for domestic violence (DV) victims and their families, with prioritisation of emergency and affordable housing essential. Additionally, how funds for refuges and shelters are allocated as there has been only CPI increases over some years with children of victims also needing support and services to break the intergenerational cycle of abuse. The Attorney-General has offered to work closely with me on this.
Questions on Notice targeted funding to address voters’ privacy of information and other misleading election practices, as well as the adequate handling of complaints about public officials, government decisions, and electoral boundaries.
Time and question allocation constraints led to remaining questions being submitted via standard correspondence, as has been done with all of the Questions on Notice that were rejected by other Committees. A list of these have been included in the 360 update sandybolton.com/estimates-2021-2022-summary-2-september-2021/
Within the budgeted increase for police personnel, the Minister for Police did not commit specifically to our request for extra permanent resources in our community and Teewah to see an end to the dangerous and disgraceful behaviour that is impacting our environment, residents and visitors, however we have reiterated the urgent need. The exploration of increased Unmanned Aerial Vehicles deployment will also be followed up.
Other budgetary questions included the importance of requested training for our SES personnel and volunteers who do an incredible job selflessly giving of their time to keep our community safe. Bushfire resources, pilots for that LAT (the large air tanker that had down time during the Fraser fires from a lack of replacement pilots) – and additional resourcing for youth crime were delivered either verbally or via a Question on Notice.
Unlike previous years, I did not attend other Committee Hearings due to the emergencies here at home and constraints within the Estimates Hearings process which, like the Committee process, is fundamentally flawed. I have outlined these over the last three years as they are neither equitable nor efficient. Instead, I submitted Questions on Notice to the relevant Committees and 16 Ministers, which were not accepted. This has now been added to the list of reasons a review is needed to make Committee and Estimates processes more effective in holding Government to account.
Detailed research undertaken by two of my parliamentary interns outlines how the Government could ‘tweak’ the current format to promote greater scrutiny and efficiency. This information was tabled during my Estimates Speech, located at parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Tabled-Papers/Online-Tabled-Papers
Previous requests to the Premier and the Speaker for a review have been unsuccessful, however we do have an upcoming panel in which we can further demonstrate why the review is essential, including that it has been 10 years since the last one was undertaken. As one of this four-person panel, I look forward to the questions especially the ‘whys’!
Estimates 2021/22, as last year, was not easy, and the impacts from Covid is apparent in every realm. As resources are stretched to manage the pandemic, the reality is we are seeing many requests that are not considered as vital in the health and economic rebuild arenas relegated to the future. This will no doubt translate to many of these questions being revisited in 2022, with ongoing frustrations for our community which I shared in the Public Health Extension of Provisions Bill speech, which can be found at tv.parliament.qld.gov.au/?reference=0Mba20210902_113230
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Until next month, enjoy the spring weather and all the beauty, and sneezes, that it brings!
Sandy
