Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. The answer to the last part of his question is no, we will not be committing to a judicial inquiry. The reason is that we have been totally transparent in the way in which the funding for this program has been used.

I was asked the other day a similar question by the member for Fairfax as to whether I was aware of a similar complaint to this. Can I just make this point so that there is no misunderstanding from the other side. There is a process in place in which, if there are complaints, those complaints can be referred, and it is called the Orgill committee. It has open terms of reference that enable all of these issues to be dealt with so that we can not only determine whether there is value for money but address the problems. My point to both of those members and anyone seeking to ask is that I would urge them in future to ask themselves the question: has this complaint been referred to the Orgill committee, and have they pursued it through a process that we have set up to address these issues? Have they referred it? Because, as it turns out, the complaint of the member for Fairfax has not been referred to the Orgill committee.

So do not come in here and moralise about committees of inquiry if you are not even prepared to use the process that exists now. Use the process; that is what it is there for. We have been addressing the problems in the past. If all you want to do is come in here and raise points of order or issues that have been raised in the newspaper, you are not servicing your electorates properly.

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