The Palaszczuk Labor Government has failed to live up to its promise of being transparent and accountable, with the revelation that Ministers avoided hours of questioning during estimates hearings.
Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said this year’s estimates had fallen short when compared with previous years and the amount of time Ministers could be asked questions by Parliamentary Committees.
“Last year under the LNP Government, the Ministers of Transport, Main Roads, Energy and Water Supply sat for a combined nine-and-a-half hours, answering questions of relevant committees,” Mr Springborg said.
“This year, the Palaszczuk Labor Government allocated just six hours for these departments, three hours short of the LNP.
“It doesn’t take a genius to work out that less time answering questions means the government faces less scrutiny and in the end, Queenslanders lose out.”
Mr Springborg said since the Palaszczuk Labor Government came into office, it had done everything in its power to avoid being asked tough questions.
“This year has the fewest number of parliamentary sitting days in recent memory,” he said.
“If the Parliament doesn’t sit, then you can’t pass legislation and you can’t get things done. That’s why Queensland has been in a holding pattern since Labor was sworn in six months ago.
“It also means that local members don’t get as many opportunities to bring local issues to the attention of the government – it means that the voice of many Queensland communities don’t get heard.
“The only reason for having less hours in estimates and fewer Parliamentary sitting days is to minimise the risk of inexperienced and incompetent ministers embarrassing the Premier and her Government.”
Mr Springborg said Queenslanders deserved better than a Labor Government more interested in its own political survival than governing with integrity and accountability.
“Even the Premier avoided scrutiny when she made the unprecedented move of taking a holiday in the middle of estimates,” he said.
“Queenslanders didn’t vote for this.”
