Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is the first week back at parliament for the year and, as you can see from the documents I am carrying, the Howard government has a lot of homework to catch up on. I have with me here 54 parliamentary committee reports which the Howard government has failed to respond to on time. These are the ones it has failed to respond to on time, but there are another 200 that it has partially responded to and has not given full consideration to. I thought they were too many to carry in.

Although the government is obliged to respond to a committee report within three months of it being tabled, clearly the coalition ministers think they are above all that. Now that they control the Senate, they think they do not have to answer to anyone. The Howard government is so arrogant, so drunk on power, that it has no regard for the parliamentary process. Many of these reports received bipartisan support from members of both the coalition and the Labor Party. They make recommendations for changes to policy that would change Australia for the better, recommendations that would change people’s lives for the better. But the Howard government is so busy implementing policies that will hurt people, such as its extreme industrial relations laws, that it is ignoring good policy that will help people.

Millions of taxpayers’ dollars were spent on producing these reports. A committee inquiry is a costly but worthwhile exercise. It is an opportunity for politicians from both parties to work together to form policy. It is the only opportunity we have as parliamentarians to work as part of the parliamentary process above the executive government. It is a chance for the public to have their say on issues that are affecting them and to see that on many occasions we as politicians put politics aside and work together for the betterment of the country.

Inquiries are an extremely worthwhile exercise, but I have to wonder: if the government is not going to respond to them, what is the point of doing them? Apart from being a waste of time and money, it is also extremely disappointing for the members of the community who make submissions. These people feel they are going to be listened to, that they may make a difference. We raise their expectations and then we dash them by doing nothing about these reports. How disappointed the people of regional Australia must feel that their submissions to the inquiry into the provision of future water supplies for rural industry and community have been ignored.

Getting water right(s)—the future of rural Australia was tabled in June 2004. The Howard government has had over a year to respond but to date it has not seen the need to. This report took three years to complete, the committee held 25 hearings across the country, it was tabled over a year ago but the government still has not responded.

The people of regional Australia must also feel very let down by the fact that the Howard government has also ignored Money matters in the bush, a report which makes a series of recommendations to improve the standards of banking and financial services for people living in the country. The report was tabled in June 2004; it is now over two years later, and the Howard government has completely ignored it.

Then there is Regional aviation and island transport services: making ends meet. Amongst its recommendations, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services called for a new airport ownership subsidy scheme to cover capital works and essential maintenance to assist struggling regional airports. This was an important report tabled in 2003, but the coalition has still not responded.

I think families affected by substance abuse would also be extremely disillusioned with our parliamentary process. So many people travelled to Canberra for committee hearings to share their heartbreaking experiences with regard to substance abuse. They had so much hope that the government would listen. Road to recovery: report on the inquiry into substance abuse in Australian communities was tabled in 2003, and the Howard government has not even bothered to respond.

Working for Australia’s future: increasing participation in the workforce did not have completely bipartisan support. But one thing that members from both sides agreed on was that the Howard government needs to address the skills crisis as a matter of urgency. But you guessed it: there has been no response to that report.

Why hasn’t the government responded to the report Public good conservation: our challenge for the 21st century? It has had more than four years to do so. That is right—for four years, that report has been gathering dust.

I think the longest one on my list was tabled back in 1999. You guessed it: the requirement was that it be responded to within three months. To date, no minister has bothered to tell his fellow parliamentarians that he took any interest in the work they have done. It is another report that is gathering dust: Unlocking the future: the report of the inquiry into the Reeves review of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. It was tabled, as I said, in 1999.

What is the government’s excuse? What is the government doing about all the work we around this place do? We go on trips. We sit in endless committee meetings. People come; they make submissions. They bare their hearts and souls in respect of a lot of these things, and these reports gather dust. If the parliamentary committee process is not actually being recognised by the government as a process worth responding to, then why are we all bothering? These reports are very well researched, and the government should have the decency to give them a response. (Time expired)