Today, hypocrisy is at its finest with the Albanese Government’s complete disregard for accountability on full display with the release of the Parliamentary Sitting Calendar for 2023.
The absurdity of scrapping the first week of Estimates for the Senate is a deliberate avoidance of transparency by the Albanese Government.
Four Estimates weeks in a year has been standard practice in the Senate since the 1990s. For decades this has been basic convention to have Estimates early in the year and this Government seemed to think it’s omission would go unnoticed.
When asked in Senate Question Time today if the Government would reinstate the first Estimates week Senator Wong proceeded to dodge, duck and weave before claiming it was believed the missing week would not be needed because the Mid-Year Economic Fiscal Outlook would not be taking place.
This is simply throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The Albanese Government is denying 60 hours of examination of it’s decisions and the Australian public service that would usually take place, hiding the truth from the Australian people.
For anyone from the Government to believe these Estimates, which are an important mechanism of accountability and transparency, as unnecessary would be incompetent.
The Coalition will be seeking to reinstate the Estimates within the first sitting bloc of 2023 and hold this Government responsible for its substandard decisions.