Ignoring Questions Is Ignoring The People
The failure of Ministers within the Victorian Government to answer Committee questions has been described as ‘disturbing’.
The Liberal Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, has been forced to raise the serious concern in the Parliament this week due to the ongoing failures, and tabled a parliamentary motion to highlight it.
As a member of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee (SARC), Mrs McArthur said Ministerial responses to this critical Committee is a key part of the scrutiny process.
“More than seven weeks ago, SARC wrote to the Attorney General questioning whether the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020 infringed upon the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities and other legislation.
“It’s a serious question about a matter that has already passed the Assembly and required urgent attention before the Council began its deliberations.
“However, I was forced to raise the Attorney General’s failure to respond within the required timeframes in the House this week.
“As a result of that, and 52 days after the request, we got a response just as the Legislative Council was about to begin voting on the Bill.
“It shouldn’t take a Member of Parliament to stand up in the Parliament and complain to force a Minister to do his or her job,” Mrs McArthur said.
She said questions such as this need to be answered and debated before any law is passed.
“This matters for any bill - but all the more for a subject as controversial and potentially restrictive of freedom of expression and human rights as the ‘Conversion’ bill,” Mrs McArthur said.
There are many other SARC Committee questions for which answers remain outstanding. These include the Premier’s failure to respond to questions on the Omnibus Bill in June 2020.
“It is a clear indication that ministers consider SARC an optional extra in their work.
“It seems they have taken the Premier’s lead in considering Parliament an optional extra, or worse still, an inconvenience best bypassed.
“The Committee is not a political football, but an essential tool to improve legislation”, Mrs McArthur said.
“My motion is designed to remind them that their duty to Parliament should come above party politics.”
5 February 2020