Bracks Watch

Parliament, we hardly knew ye

The Bracks government has opened the new parliamentary session by announcing that it will sit for "at least 50 days". As Paul Austin opines, this is subject to the Legislative Council sitting a number of Fridays "as required", and at a minimum will be 48 days, in the Legislative Assembly. The reforms make it very difficult for a Government to answer questions about its policies, behaviour and progress.

The other incident relates to the failure to release a report, detailing plans for a water exchange between the Latrobe Valley power stations and Melbourne. Although John Thwaites had proclaimed it released on the Stateline episode on the 11th November 2006, just over a month later the Deputy Premier admitted releasing only details:

At the time we released our central region strategy we released details of that project — details from the feasibility report. We indicated at the time that certain matters were commercial in confidence and were not appropriate to be released. This is a very positive proposal that deserves proper investigation, and that is what we will do.
Assembly Hansard 19/12/06 P.10

Team Brackswatch is very happy with the efforts of parliamentarians keeping the Government accountable, going as far as using their Maiden Speeches to attach Bracks Government policies. These include the Bernie Finn, former member for Tullamarine and now representing the Western Metropolitan Region, and Matthew Guy, representing the Northern Metropolitan Region. Greg Barber from the Greens is also worth watching, attacking a Bracks government on different issues.

Labels: Legislative Assembly, Legislative Council, Parliament, Water

posted by Michael @ 3:33 AM