Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Report on the 2019–20 Budget Estimates

Mr MAAS (Narre Warren South) (10:20): It gives me great pleasure to rise and also speak on the Report on the 2019–20 Budget Estimates, which is hot off the press, of course, and was just tabled yesterday. It gives me great pleasure also because—as a first-time parliamentarian—it is the first committee that I have sat on. As a part of the great Westminster tradition, where governments are held to account through committee processes, it is really a very special thing to be sitting on this committee and to be able to scrutinise our budget papers, which is a key component of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee’s work.

On this committee we have representation from both houses. I would like to acknowledge the work of the previous chair as well, the Honourable Philip Dalidakis. Some would say his approach was crash through or crash, others would say that he was very able, but we acknowledge his contribution as we do the contribution of our new chair, the member for Pascoe Vale, who is doing a stellar job in that role. We have also got the deputy chair, the member for Polwarth; the member for Prahran; the member for Gippsland South; and the outstanding contributions from the member for Cranbourne and the member for Mordialloc, of course.

A member: Hear, hear!

Mr MAAS: Indeed. We have also got Ms Stitt from the other place as well as the member for Evelyn. It would be remiss of me at this point not to acknowledge the work of the secretariat, who have really been doing a powerhouse of work to ensure that this report has got to this stage. We thank them, especially the executive officer, Caroline Williams, and her team, in getting to this point.

The report itself is split into some 13 parts. We have obviously got the introduction and there is the budget overview. It moves through into the whole-of-government review, the Department of Health and Human Services review and the reports on the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Transport, the Department of Justice and Community Safety, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions. There are also reports on Court Services Victoria, the Department of Premier and Cabinet, the Department of Treasury and Finance, the Parliament, the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office and the Parliamentary Budget Office.

All of these combine together to form the overall report, of which there has been some 63 recommendations made to departments, which have been designed to encourage the effective and efficient delivery of public services and assets and to improve understanding of the budget papers. Whilst there are several themes which are reflected throughout the committee’s recommendations, including the need to review and establish performance measures and targets for initiatives that are of significant public interest or attract significant funding allocations, indeed the government itself is still in the process of forming its view before giving a response to those recommendations.

As I close, I would just like to thank the committee for the functional nature in the way that it is working. I commend the report and I thank the secretariat and all members involved in producing the report.