Government Senator Laurence Hislop said he believes this Parliament has been able to carry out its entrusted role and function of making laws for good governance “and also providing oversight of the Government and the Executive.”
Hislop said while things could be improved, he disagreed with the Opposition on the issue.
He said, “The UNC always attempts to plant in the minds of the public that there’s interference by the Executive in the other arms of the State.
“The system we have inherited and even the size of our governance and parliamentary structure makes it significantly more difficult for a full realisation of what some may want to call true separation of powers—what we have been able to experience in our democracy should more be referred to as a balance of power.”
He added, “We understand that there are shortcomings in the system but until we get to the point where we all desire to be, this Parliament has been able to become more self sufficient, robust, autonomous and more in tune with the times than most if not all of the Parliaments in the region.” Hislop said in 2011, oversight was woeful with only five main parliamentary oversight committees. There are now 13, he noted.
He said, “Ministries and government agencies are now called before Joint Select Committees to give an account not only to the Parliament but to the public of their stewardship. There’s now greater scrutiny of the executive by the legislature—this is what we call balance of power.”
Hislop said it was accepted that parliamentarians must be able to carry out their legislative and constitutional functions in accordance with the constitution, free from unlawful interference. They should maintain high standards of accountability, transparency and responsibility in the conduct of all public and parliamentary matters.
