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- Title
MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
Motion of Censure
- Database
Senate Hansard
- Date
17-12-1992
- Source
Senate
- Parl No.
36
- Electorate
QLD
- Interjector
Senator Macdonald
- Page
5370
- Party
AD
- Presenter
- Status
- Question No.
- Questioner
- Responder
- Speaker
Senator KERNOT
- Stage
- Type
- Context
Miscellaneous
- System Id
chamber/hansards/1992-12-17/0137
Note: Where available, the PDF/Word icon below is provided to view the complete and fully formatted document
Table Of Contents

Previous Fragment Next Fragment
-
Hansard
- Start of Business
- PETITIONS
-
STATUTORY BODIES
- Membership
-
NOTICES OF MOTION
- Days and Hours of Sitting
- Dr Bob Brown
- Grain Production in South Australia
- Victoria: Schools
- Australian Broadcasting Authority
- Hospitals
- Regulations and Ordinances Committee
- Unemployment: Graduates
- Compulsory Unionism
- Days and Hours of Sitting
- Australian Institute of Criminology
- Government Documents
- Sex Discrimination
- Government Documents
- Mr Mordechai Vanunu
- ORDER OF BUSINESS
-
NOTICES OF MOTION
-
Standing Committee on Industry, Technology and Commerce
- Withdrawal
-
Standing Committee on Industry, Technology and Commerce
- TABLING OF DOCUMENTS
-
COMMITTEES
- Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology
- BURMA
-
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION AMENDMENT BILL 1992
- First Reading
- Second Reading
-
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS (RESOLUTION OF BOYCOTTS) AMENDMENT BILL 1992
- First Reading
- Second Reading
-
ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL AMENDMENT BILL 1992
- First Reading
- Second Reading
-
COMMITTEES
- Standing Committee on Environment, Recreation and the Arts
- SPECIAL ADJOURNMENT
- LEAVE OF ABSENCE
- BILLS RETURNED FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
-
COMMITTEES
-
Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration
- Report
- Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs
-
Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration
- CUSTOMS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 1992 CUSTOMS LEGISLATION (ANTI-DUMPING AMENDMENTS) BILL 1992 CUSTOMS TARIFF (ANTI-DUMPING) AMENDMENT BILL (No. 2) 1992 CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT BILL (No. 2) 1992
- CORPORATE LAW REFORM BILL 1992
- SEAFARERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION BILL 1992 SEAFARERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION (TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS AND CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 1992 SEAFARERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION LEVY BILL 1992 SEAFARERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION LEVY COLLECTION BILL 1992
-
MATTERS OF PUBLIC INTEREST
- South Australian Liberal Party
- South Australia
- Toxic Chemicals
- Foreign Investment in Australia
- Public Service (Abolition of Compulsory Retirement Age) Amendment Bill 1992
- Food Labelling
-
Privatisation of Government Bodies
- Tasmanian Oyster Industry
- Mr Michael Pratt
- QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
- DISTINGUISHED VISITORS
-
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
-
FAI Insurance: Westpac Bank
(Senator COLSTON, Senator TATE) -
Racism
(Senator BOURNE, Senator TATE) -
Textiles Industry
(Senator LOOSLEY, Senator BUTTON) -
Air Traffic Control Contract
(Senator MacGIBBON, Senator COLLINS) -
Wages of Women
(Senator REYNOLDS, Senator COOK) -
Prime Minister: Companies
(Senator MICHAEL BAUME, Senator BUTTON) -
Sexual Harassment
(Senator WALSH, Senator TATE) -
Hospitals
(Senator PATTERSON, Senator TATE) -
Unemployment
(Senator LEES, Senator COOK) -
Wool Tax Rebate
(Senator BOSWELL, Senator COOK) -
Indonesia: Earthquake
(Senator HARRADINE, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Defence
(Senator DURACK, Senator ROBERT RAY) -
Exports to China
(Senator FAULKNER, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
(Senator HERRON) -
Motor Vehicle Industry Executives
(Senator MAGUIRE, Senator BUTTON) -
Tax on Services
(Senator BUTTON) -
Nuclear Reactors
(Senator BUTTON) -
Taxation Determinations
(Senator BUTTON) -
Pigs
(Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Ambassador to the OECD
(Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Public Service: Union Activities
(Senator COOK) -
Unemployment
(Senator COOK) -
Med-Network Systems Pty Ltd
(Senator TATE) - Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
- Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
- Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
- Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
- Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
- Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
- Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
- Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
- Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
- Joint House Department: Public Liability Claim
-
FAI Insurance: Westpac Bank
-
MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
- Procedural Text
- Motion of Precedence
- Motion of Censure
-
PETITIONS
- National Flag
- Procedural Text
-
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON NOTICE
- Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories: Grants
- SOMALIA
-
COMMITTEES
-
Superannuation
- Report: Government Response
- Reports: Government Responses
-
Superannuation
- NEW ZEALAND FINANCE AND EXPENDITURE COMMITTEE
-
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
-
Australian Sports Drug Agency
- Annual Report
- Department of Tourism
- Tobacco Research and Development Council
- Australian Sports Drug Agency
-
Private Health Insurance Administration Council
- Report
-
Australian Sports Drug Agency
-
DOCUMENTS
-
Auditor-General's Reports 1992-93
- No. 17: Health Insurance Commission
- No. 18: Department of Social Security
- Report No. 19: Department of Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs
- Report No. 20: Department of Employment, Education and Training
- Report No. 21: Department of Employment, Education and Training
- Report No. 22: Department of Defence
-
Auditor-General's Reports 1992-93
- ORDER OF BUSINESS
-
COMMITTEES
- Privileges
- ORDER OF BUSINESS
-
COMMITTEES
-
Privileges
- 36th and 37th Reports
-
Privileges
- BILLS RETURNED FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- TAXATION LAWS AMENDMENT (CAR PARKING) BILL 1992
- SEAFARERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION BILL 1992 SEAFARERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION (TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS AND CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 1992 SEAFARERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION LEVY BILL 1992 SEAFARERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION LEVY COLLECTION BILL 1992
- MIGRATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 4) 1992
- ADJOURNMENT
-
MIGRATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 4) 1992
- Second Reading
-
In Committee
- Senator HARRADINE
- Senator TATE
- Senator HARRADINE
- Senator TATE
- Senator CHAMARETTE
- Senator TATE
- Senator TEAGUE
- Senator HARRADINE
- Senator TATE
- Senator HARRADINE
- Senator TATE
- Senator HARRADINE
- Senator TATE
- Senator SPINDLER
- Senator TATE
- Senator SPINDLER
- Senator TATE
- Senator COULTER
- Senator TATE
- Senator COULTER
- Senator TATE
- Senator SPINDLER
- Senator TATE
- Senator CHAMARETTE
- Senator TATE
- Senator CHAMARETTE
- Senator TATE
- Senator HARRADINE
- Senator TATE
- Senator HARRADINE
- Senator TATE
- Senator HARRADINE
- Senator CHAMARETTE
- Senator TATE
- Senator SPINDLER
- Senator TEAGUE
- Senator TATE
- Third Reading
- TAXATION LAWS AMENDMENT (CAR PARKING) BILL 1992
- TAXATION LAWS AMENDMENT BILL (No. 5) 1992
- CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT BILL (No. 2) 1992
- BILLS RETURNED FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
-
RURAL ADJUSTMENT BILL 1992 STATES GRANTS (RURAL ADJUSTMENT) AMENDMENT BILL 1992 FARM HOUSEHOLD SUPPORT BILL 1992 INCOME EQUALISATION DEPOSITS LAWS AMENDMENT BILL 1992
-
In Committee
- Senator LEES
- Senator TAMBLING
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator TAMBLING
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator TAMBLING
- Senator LEES
- Senator TAMBLING
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator TAMBLING
- Senator COOK
- Senator LEES
- Senator TAMBLING
- Senator COOK
- Third Reading
-
In Committee
- NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) BILL 1992
- BILLS RETURNED FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
-
NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY ADMINISTRATION BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (CONSEQUENTIAL PROVISIONS) BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (COARSE GRAINS) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (CATTLE TRANSACTION) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTER) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (MEAT CHICKEN) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (LAYING CHICKEN) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (DAIRY PRODUCE) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (HONEY) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (HONEY EXPORT) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS EXPORT) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (OILSEEDS) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (DRIED FRUITS) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (WHEAT) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (GRAIN LEGUMES) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (GAME ANIMALS) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (AQUATIC ANIMAL EXPORT) LEVY BILL 1992 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY (HORSE SLAUGHTER) LEVY BILL 1992
- Second Reading
- In Committee
- Third Reading
- AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY CHEMICALS (ADMINISTRATION) BILL 1992 AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY CHEMICALS AMENDMENT BILL 1992
- COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYEES' REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION AMENDMENT BILL 1992
- BILLS RETURNED FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- STATUTORY BODIES
- JOINT HOUSE DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC LIABILITY CLAIM
- ADJOURNMENT
- DOCUMENTS
-
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
-
Newstart Program
(Senator Reynolds, Senator Cook) -
Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories: Grants
(Senator Short, Senator Collins) -
Mr Brown: Ms Murray
(Senator Alston, Senator Cook) -
Piparwar Coal Project
(Senator Bourne, Senator Gareth Evans) -
Defence: Joint Facilities
(Senator Chamarette, Senator Robert Ray) -
Aborigines: Yarrabah and Palm Island
(Senator O'Chee, Senator Collins) -
Australian International Development Assistance Bureau
(Senator Brownhill, Senator Gareth Evans) -
Local Government Development Program
(Senator Brownhill, Senator Tate) -
Ms Coral Bayley-Jones
(Senator Tierney, Senator Cook) -
Sudan
(Senator Chamarette, Senator Gareth Evans) -
Racial Discrimination
(Senator Chamarette, Senator Gareth Evans) -
Genetically Acquired Abnormalities: Register
(Senator Campbell, Senator Tate) -
Wildlife Protection: Controlled Specimens
(Senator Bell, Senator Collins) -
Australian Film Industry
(Senator Calvert, Senator Collins) -
Artificial Limbs
(Senator Newman, Senator Tate) -
Industrial Relations: Conscientious Objection
(Senator O'Chee, Senator Cook) -
Taxation: CER Review
(Senator Watson, Senator Gareth Evans) -
Cocos (Keeling) Islands: Administrator
(Senator Tambling, Senator Collins) -
Cocos (Keeling) Islands: Administrator
(Senator Tambling, Senator Collins) -
Anyinginyi Congress
(Senator Sowada, Senator Collins) -
Cyprus
(Senator Bourne, Senator Gareth Evans) -
Burma: Trade
(Senator Chamarette, Senator Gareth Evans)
-
Newstart Program
Content Window
Thursday, 17 December 1992
Page: 5370
Page: 5370
Senator KERNOT (4.51 p.m.)
—The Australian Democrats think the question is whether the former Minister for Shipping and Aviation Support, Senator Collins, persistently failed to investigate allegations and irregularities and whether we can prove that the delay really was an inordinate delay anyway. As far as we can see, the time line is as follows. In mid-March the tender was determined. By early April, when the Public Works Committee started the inquiry into the building works involved in TAAATS, obvious problems were surfacing in relation to the tender process. In early May, Senator Collins began discussions with his Department about setting up an inquiry. On 27 May, Senator Cook took over the portfolio. On 3 June, the Public Works Committee tabled its report and recommended an inquiry be held into the awarding of the contract to Thomson. On 11 July, the inquiry started. So we have a period, technically, of about six weeks between the determination of the tender and Senator Collins's first discussions with officers of his Department about setting up an inquiry.
Senator Macdonald
—What about the Estimates Committee on 31 March?
Senator KERNOT
—Is 31 March to May inordinate? Three weeks later Senator Cook was the Minister responsible. One week after that the Public Works Committee recommended an inquiry. Five weeks later, Mr Macphee had been appointed and the inquiry had started.
Senator Macdonald
—There were a lot of questions before that.
Senator KERNOT
—There are a lot of questions—but are they about Senator Collins, or are they about the bigger question of the role of GBEs, about the concept of `arm's length'? I think they could well be. Are there questions about the actions of Mr Baldwin and Dr Edwards, for example?
The Democrats believe that there is a strong case that the two executives most responsible for this debacle, Mr Baldwin and Dr Edwards, should be dismissed immediately. We think it is inconceivable that Hughes could have any confidence in the re-run tender process if those two officials are reinstated. There is also sufficient evidence to warrant a review of the appointment of the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman, Mr Ted Butcher and Mr Henry Bosch. In our view, they oversaw a clearly flawed process and appeared to us not to properly and independently question the judgment and action of the two senior executives in question, Mr Baldwin and Dr Edwards. Mr Butcher is, after all, the Chairman of the National Rail Corporation as well as the Civil Aviation Authority. He surely must take responsibility for the haphazard and hasty sequence of events leading to the decision to favour Thomson over Hughes. His position in the NRC is critical to the national interest, and reassurance as to his judgment and determination to act is needed.
In response to one of Senator Macdonald's interjections, I said that what has happened here raises the big question of the role of GBEs and the way in which this Government, with the support of the Opposition, which said, `Yes, yes, corporatise; you must corporatise; it is not as good as privatising, but it is a good first step along the road'. So it raises the question of the role of GBEs, their relationship with government, and the notion of what `arm's length' should mean in relation to GBEs.
As I understand it, Mr Macphee said that he felt that the Chief Executive and the board either did not know or did not properly understand the Civil Aviation Act, which established the CAA, in that it seemed to him that they interpreted that Act to mean that the sole purpose of the CAA was to operate on a commercial basis. Again, I think the assumption is that the relationship between government and GBEs—in this case, the Civil Aviation Authority—was akin to one between a board and shareholders. But the Democrats would argue strongly that because the Government has ownership, a more direct sense of control and responsibility is required.
Although the Government has many government business enterprises under its authority, we think that—it is the old line: horses for courses—there are some which quite obviously the Government may wish to say have a primary objective of operating commercially. But, quite clearly, there are others whose prime consideration is the purpose of delivering public good. Chapter 2, on page 11 of Mr Macphee's report, quite clearly specifies:
The Board of the CAA has the purposes:
(a)to decide the objectives, strategies and policies to be followed by the Authority; and
(b)to ensure that the Authority performs its functions in a proper, efficient and economical manner.
This does not mean that its sole objective is to operate on a commercial basis.
Mr Macphee also suggested that there were other considerations that governments ought to have in mind. On page 13 he lists an indicative and far from exhaustive list of the possible objectives of the Government to be met by the CAA beyond the efficient production of the specified products of the CAA. In the first instance Mr Macphee talks about the `provision of safety in relation to civil aviation'. He talks about `artificial deterrents to demand for or supply of civil aviation'. The first one is quite clearly a public good. The second one he describes as `to reduce the incidence and therefore cost of externalities'. He also talks about assistance to Australian industry to meet the wider policy objectives of producing a portfolio of goods and services.
When we debated this matter a couple of years ago, we talked about what a wonderful delivery of services we were going to get from this corporatised CAA. I think we should look again. We should say, `It has failed to deliver'. In one sense, we have a GBE which clearly seems to be ignoring its purpose and its major considerations beyond commerciality. The Government needs to take a good, long and hard look at the way the CAA Board is interpreting the Act which establishes it.
I ask again: what is the point of having corporatisation if we are just going to have a board at arm's length making these sorts of decisions, costing this amount of money for a review and a government which stands back? I hope this will cause the Government to look more closely at its relationship, not just with this government business enterprise but with all its government business enterprises.