Ms O’CONNOR – Thank you, Chair. If we look at this A3 table, just to help me – and there’s financially smart people on this side of the table, I’m not one of them – but I would like to understand. Is this column, the first column on the left here, are we looking at election commitments here, primarily election commitments, and is it possible to provide a total figure for the quantum of funding through election commitments that Department of Communities Tasmania is administering in the 2024 year. So, after the 2024 state election, which I suspect most of these have come through. Then the 2025 state election, which obviously was a slightly more restrained election because of their understanding about the state’s finances?
Ms OGILVIE – I think we could possibly prepare it, but we have to take that on notice.
Ms O’CONNOR – I think you can prepare it, because you might recall, you were actually caught up in it. There was a cheque to the sailing club that your daughter was part of.
Ms OGILVIE – Sorry, what are you tyring to get at? What was that?
Ms O’CONNOR – There was the ‘sports rorts’ saga of 2018, which was slightly captured by –
Ms OGILVIE – I don’t think there were any sports rorts going on.
Ms O’CONNOR – Well, they were called ‘sports rorts’.
Ms OGILVIE – No, I think you called them ‘sports rorts’.
Ms O’CONNOR – Plenty of people did, actually. They were reported in the media.
Ms OGILVIE – I think you’re getting a little off-track.
Ms O’CONNOR – Let me put it this way. More than $400 million in election promises came through in 2018. You were part of it, handing over a cheque to your daughter’s rowing club. Do you remember? What I’m trying to understand –
Ms OGILVIE – Fully disclosed, so what’s your point?
Ms O’CONNOR – Sure. Handy, though.
Ms OGILVIE – Fully disclosed appropriately.
Ms O’CONNOR – Well, I don’t know about that, I think it was kind of through a computer file, but irrelevant.
Ms OGILVIE – Fully disclosed, thank you. This is getting a bit personal, now.
Ms O’CONNOR – No, you took issue with me calling it ‘sports rorts’, which it was described as at the time, because of the excessive spending, which is now being highlighted by Treasury.
Ms OGILVIE – You are getting to a sensible point. I get what you’re saying. You’re saying that a lot of election commitments have added to the budget bottom line.
Ms O’CONNOR – That’s not what I’m saying. It’s obvious, but it’s also what Treasury said, and what Saul Eslake said. In 2018, and again in 2021, to your point before, there were tables presented by Communities Tasmania because parliament requested the information. We did have the full suite of election promises, and we had a very good indication of what Communities Tasmania was administering in terms of the election promise grants.
I am certain that there is a written record somewhere of the quantum of funding of election promises that Communities Tasmania is administering, and it is partly contained in this document.
Ms OGILVIE – We’ve just said we will get that for you. I’m happy to do that, but we’d have to take it on notice.
Ms O’CONNOR – You said it would have to be prepared, and I’m surprised that it’s not already prepared.
Ms OGILVIE – We’ll get it for you on notice. We obviously don’t have it here.
Ms O’CONNOR – Sorry, to be clear, does Communities Tasmania have readily available, an understanding of the quantum of funding through these grants processes it’s administering as a consequence of the last two state elections?
Ms OGILVIE – Let me just ask. We’ll take that on notice.
Ms O’CONNOR – One more thing on this table. I’m trying to understand. All down this first column here are large sums; budget paper allocations, the original allocation being X. Are all these items here election promises?
Ms KELLY – They’re all key deliverables in the 2024-25 budget through election commitments. Looking at the 2024-25 budget paper, you’ll see those all listed under the key deliverables statement under 2024 election commitments.
Ms O’CONNOR – Going back to my original question, does this column here add up to the quantum of funding that Communities Tasmania is administering that were election commitments? Is this the election commitment funding that Communities Tasmania is administering?
Ms KELLY – Through you, minister: I’d have to do a double check, but yes, that’s likely the case. There were some other commitments within the 2024-25 Budget that weren’t necessarily listed as 2024 election commitments, so I’d just have to go back through and double check, but a number of them are.
Ms O’CONNOR – Okay. Thanks, Chair.
Ms O’CONNOR – Can I check, is it that because these election commitments are kind of one-off grants, that is why through minister through communities. Because it was the same in 2018 and 2021 where the bulk of the election commitments were funded through communities, some sport and rec but mostly communities and I’m wondering is that just a practical practice? What is it?
Ms OGILVIE – I don’t know the answer to that. As a very new communities minister, I haven’t focused on that specifically, but I do see that election commitments, which can be disparate and broad, there could be a reason that they are placed here, but that is a Treasury decision. It’s not something the minister or the department has decided. I see where you’re going with it, but I don’t know that I can specifically answer that question.
