Senator Andrew Bartlett
Monday, February 14, 2005
 
Diamonds in the Mine – Senate Estimates Committees

The Parliament is sitting again this week, with the Senate holding Estimates Committee hearings. If you want to find out more detail about what Estimates Committees do, this site has a detailed explanation. Basically it's a chance for Senators to ask questions of senior Department officials about any aspect of activities undertaken or overseen by the federal Government. There's usually not a lot of votes to be won or huge media to be got, although often there'll be some good quirky or symbolic stories, such as the cost of the wine used for functions hosted by the Prime Minister at Kirribilli House.

MP Bronwyn Bishop scored some brief fame and public adoration many years ago for being particularly aggressive and abusive towards senior public servants (in particular the Tax Commissioner) in Senate Estimates hearings. However, as much as we'd all love occasionally to let fly at a public servant who isn't really in a position to answer back, it tends to be counter-productive. The real value of these Committees is to gather information, not to score political points. It tends to be a slow and gradual process of digging, sifting and processing, which is why people find it dull to listen to and why it doesn't usually get large amounts of media (unless a real scandal is unearthed).

I'm sure there will be a wide range of questions being asked of Immigration Department officials about the Cornelia Rau incident. I usually also use the hearings with Immigration people to get the latest information about what is happening in the detention camps at Nauru and around Australia, how many refugees are now at risk of deportation, etc. The Immigration area is handled by the Legal & Constitutional Committee, and will be covered in hearings on Tuesday.

If you have a decent web connection, you can listen live to the Committee hearings by going to this site and clicking on the icon for the Legal & Constitutional Committee. Listening to Committee hearings is very much an acquired taste (i.e. most people find it mind-crushingly boring), but many could find the Immigration one interesting because of current issues.

Of course, this Government is now long-skilled in distorting, diffusing, disguising and defending, and its public servants are well trained in these practices, so it is getting harder to mine right down to where the real truth is. However, occasionally a diamond appears in amongst the residual material, and there's always plenty of other less-precious material which is still able to be put to good use.

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Monday, February 14, 2005 Permalink
|


<< Home