Leader of the Opposition, Lia Finocchiaro, says the fallout from the Labor ‘Cocaine Sex’
Scandal is still being widely felt, following an extraordinary move by the Gunner
Government to scrap yet another level of scrutiny.
“When Labor booted the disgraced Member for Blain from caucus for ‘dishonesty’, he was
stripped of his position on a number of parliamentary committees – and halved the number
of Opposition members, which halves scrutiny.
“Yesterday, Labor went another step further and slashed the number of Opposition
members on the Estimates Committee – the key process for government accountability and
transparency.
“Traditionally, the Estimates Committee is made up of three government members, two
opposition members and one independent. Without the Member for Blain on the
backbench, Labor is limited to the use of three members: the Member for Johnston, the
Member for Fong Lim and the Member for Arafura.
“Because of the Member for Blain’s unforgiveable breach of parliamentary standards Labor,
in a spiteful act of revenge, kicked an Opposition member from the Estimates Committee
too.
“Instead of allowing the process to proceed with adequate scrutiny, the Gunner
Government is punishing the Opposition which is tasked with holding this vindictive Labor
team to account. Not a single other jurisdiction in the country only has one Opposition
member in the Estimates process.
“The Gunner Government is absolutely petrified of what dark secrets the Opposition will
uncover. CLP questioning in the December Estimates process revealed a myriad of
humiliating failures by Labor, including the fact half of all youths arrested last financial year
were on bail, shocking multi-million dollar budget blow outs during the construction of
Garramilla Boulevard.
“Territorians can be assured, the CLP Opposition will still hold this insecure government to
account, in spite of this sensational erosion of scrutiny,” said Ms Finocchiaro.