The federal coalition has hit out at revelations the federal government has provided instructions to departments on how to limit details in answers to questions posed during Senate estimates hearings.
Capital Brief has reported on a government-issued document titled “Approaches to SE-QoNs asked of all (or multiple) agencies”, which guides departments on how to answer questions in a manner that sidesteps providing extensive detail.
The guide explains how to deal with questions that impact a range of agencies, and provides response examples that departments can draw on.
One reason for such an approach is that there are times when multiple departments are asked to respond to the same or similar questions.
The suggested answers have caused an uproar among opposition and crossbench parliamentarians because, they believe, the wording suggests the government is encouraging a slimming of responses by reducing detail.
Examples cited by Capital Brief include questions for department secretaries related to meetings they might have with ministers during a given time.
“The secretary regularly meets with portfolio ministers and, at times, ministers outside the portfolio,” a suggested answer for questions asked by the opposition and crossbenchers reads.
A range of other questions have opaque suggested answers designed to avoid the production of detailed answers about how many ministerial briefs were prepared and what briefings were prepared by a department for a minister for committee hearings.
The opposition has said the government is guilty of contempt for the Senate by providing instructions to avoid providing details to senators asking questions to keep the government accountable.
Shadow finance minister Senator Jane Hume told The Mandarin the coalition will keep following up on unanswered questions regardless of the government’s attempt to find ways of concealing information.
Hume had asked bureaucrats and their portfolio ministers about inadequate responses to questions on notice during previous parliamentary committee hearings.
“The Coalition will never apologise for putting questions to Government and holding them to account,” Hume said.
“It is disappointing that this government’s commitment to transparency is clearly only measured by what they think they can get away with.
“Questions put to departments at that are not answered will be pursued, regardless of whether the government thinks it can hide this information.”
The guide to answering questions, however, is only that, according to a government spokesperson, because the ultimate responsibility for answering the questions put by parliamentary committees falls on the shoulders of ministers, departments, and agencies.
A further issue related to questions on notice asked by parliamentarians highlighted by the government is the increase in numbers since the last federal election.
“Senate estimates questions on notice (SEQONs) have skyrocketed to more than 36,000 since May 2022. “The Government is on track to answer more questions on notice than any previous government,” the spokesperson said.
“If current trends continue, the Government will answer almost double the number of SEQONs in the 47th Parliament than in the 46th.”
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