The Public Works Committee: an analysis and evaluation of the Australian Commonwealth's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works

Abstract

This dissertation analyses the origin, purposes, nature, operation and achievements of the Commonwealth's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works (Public Works Committee - PWC), and assesses its utility to parliament. The PWC originated in 1913 as a permanent committee of parliamentarians established to examine government proposals for public works, and report on them to parliament. Its purpose is to provide detailed data on works proposals in order to allow informed voting. In the process parliament also achieves a degree of control over government - ministers and public servants. Unlike most parliamentary audit of government expenditure, the PWC scrutinises proposals before works are built. It is a joint, statutory, scrutiny committee.
The proper role for parliamentary committees in general is the checking of government, through influence, criticism, scrutiny, and publicity. The PWC is assessed against this role through an analysis of its legislation and operation, and interviews with involved parliamentarians and bureaucrats. Criteria used include adequacy of evidence obtained, precision and clarity of reports, and degree of influence on government and acceptance of recommendations. In these terms the PWC has little effect in controlling policy making by the executive government - cabinet and ministers. Moreover, specific amendment of its act together with the consequential effects of nominally unrelated legislation, have reduced the scope of Committee activities to an estimated less than half of all Commonwealth public works. This trend is continuing under current policies of corporatising departmental activities and excluding the resulting statutory corporations from PWC examination. These moves prevent parliament playing its proper role in the governance of the country.
However, within the ambit of its powers, the PWC generally rates highly against the above criteria, and exerts a significant degree of parliamentary control over government administration - the public service - in the implementation of public works.

Date of Award	1990
Original language	English
Supervisor	John HALLIGAN (Supervisor)