Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Leader
The Tasmanian Greens are pleased to have successfully secured an additional parliamentary sitting in December to scrutinise the Government’s full response to the Commission of Inquiry.
Immediate parliamentary scrutiny of the Government’s plans to respond to the findings and recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry is essential, especially given the short-term timeframes associated with many matters.
We thank the Premier for working collaboratively with the Greens to secure this outcome, and the House for supporting this move.
Originally the Government had planned to deliver its response to the Inquiry’s report on 4 December, with the next parliamentary sitting not occurring until late February or March next year. With so many recommendations due to be complete prior to July 2024, this was not an acceptable outcome.
Under the plan negotiated by the Greens, the Government will now deliver its response to the Commission of Inquiry on 1 December. Parliamentary scrutiny will then occur the following week, in the form of Estimates-style committee hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a sitting day of the House on Thursday.
The State now enters a new phase of the Commission of Inquiry process – the Government's response to recommendations. With this extra week of sitting, the Parliament will be able to play its crucial role of scrutinising the Government, and holding them to account if they are not doing their job properly.
Victim-survivors, whistleblowers and the wider community expect MPs to undertake this task as an absolute priority. As a start, coming back to Parliament for one more week in December is the very least we can do.