Senator demands list of gov't consultants

Senator Lambert Brown blasted the Government last Friday for its failure to disclose the names and salaries of advisers and consultants contracted since March 3, 2016. He had tabled the question in the Upper House seven months ago.

"It would appear to me that the failure to provide an answer to the question after seven months really represents a disrespect for the Standing Orders and a disrespect by the executive of the legislature," said Brown.

He added, "We can't get answers to simple questions about people employed by the Government being paid every month by the Government, some of whom are more performing [a] political task than [a] civil-service task."

Senator Ruel Reid, the information minister, who is responsible for presenting the data, was not in the Senate. But Kamina Johnson Smith, leader of government business, promised that the information would be ready by the next sitting or the one thereafter.

"I don't necessarily think that it is disrespect to the Standing Orders, but sometimes these things happen. What I can say is that I have been supporting Minister Reid in collating the information and securing it and we are on our way to having the answers prepared for you," Johnson Smith told Brown.

Tom Tavares-Finson, president of the Senate, affirmed his position, articulated during the previous month, that he was prepared for the data to be shared, even if they were incomplete.