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Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Page: 6777

Mr GRAY (Brand—Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity and Special Minister of State) (16:44): I thank the shadow minister for the questions. I will get back to you on those as is appropriate. Ken Henry is a distinguished Australian public servant. He is a public servant who has served the interests of our country well under all governments in the course of the last 20 years. He is a public servant whose high regard is such that the accolades that he has received have been extended by all sides of politics. I think all of us took great pride in the work that Ken has done throughout his years as a senior public servant. It is pleasing to see that he will continue to serve the interests of our nation in providing advice to the Prime Minister, and it is extremely important in the context of ensuring that our public servants are able to carry out their work both at the time and into the future rather than, as many do, see their knowledge and their considerable skill in serving both sides of parliament lost to this place, to the Public Service and to public administration. If we are to be successful at building a Public Service and a public administration environment—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop interjecting—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms AE Burke ): The minister will take his seat. The member for Mackellar on a point of order—and she had better have a good reason, because this is a pretty free-flowing debate in the Main Committee.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop: Madam Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: we do have a new paradigm even in the Main Committee. We are still governed by the standing orders, and the standing orders do require direct answers. That applies—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, the standing orders do not. The member for Mackellar can resume her seat. This is not question time.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop: I am sorry; the standing orders apply to more than just question time.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The standing order you are referring to refers to question time.

Mrs BRONWYN BISHOP: I did not make clear which one, did I?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister has the call and will be heard.

Mr GRAY: I then move to the questions that were asked about staffing resources for Independent members of parliament. It is the case that members of parliament whose status in the parliament is as Independents have been provided with additional resources from the government. That has certainly been the case in my own state for the member for O'Connor, who found himself in a position where he sought to independently represent the people of that electorate in this place but also found himself in the position of needing support to understand the complex issues of public policy and also, being a new member of parliament, of servicing a massive constituency and dealing with the complex issues. Yes, we did think it was important to provide additional support for people in that environment. We have also provided additional staff support for other Independent members of parliament. We do this in order to create the best possible environment for such members to properly, conscientiously and purposefully serve the interests of the 43rd Parliament.

We have been explicit and transparent as a government both in making those appointments and in reporting publicly that we have done that. We think it is proper, we think it is appropriate and we think it is in the interests of the best parliamentary practice, of good governance and of good government. We do not resile from that. At the same time, when such decisions are made it is critically important to ensure that they are reported publicly and transparently and can be questioned.

I return to the point of Dr Henry, the former Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, with a couple of concluding comments. A lifetime of dedication to good public policy and good public administration should be celebrated in this country and should be applauded, especially in the context of a willingness to continue to serve the nation and to serve the good governance of the country. Dr Henry's willingness to do that has again been completely transparently and publicly reported, acknowledged and understood, so there is no great matter of discovery in the questions that refer to Dr Henry. There is, however, the important principle that I think we all would live with in this place, and that is the principle that our Public Service is a great institution that serves our country well. The people who are at the head of our Public Service are people whose years of service have built an experience base that can continue to serve us well, and we wish as a government to ensure that that can take place in whatever form and whatever way is optimal both for former public servants and for the government of the day. In summary, the questions that I have been asked go to matters that have been transparent and publicly reported by the government, behind which we see underpinned a pattern of behaviour, the hallmark of which is transparency and clarity. (Time expired)