Nazri: Audit report to be tabled after budget

Hazlan Zakaria 11:06AM Sep 24, 2012

As was done last year, the government will only table the auditor-general's national audit report about a week or two after the budget is tabled on Friday.

"(This is) so that it won't steal the limelight from (debate on) the budget," explained de facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, denying that it is because the report is not ready.

"It is ready. In fact we also have columns for explanations (in) the report this time," he said.

He also said that while the audit report will be released one or two weeks after the 2013 Budget, there should still be enough time for parliamentarians to discuss the report in relation to the supply bill as they will have four weeks to debate the bill at policy stage.

“And at committee stage, they can still debate it, too,” reasoned the Padang Rengas MP.

By convention, the annual audit report is tabled in the House before or together with the budget, but last year it was delayed, courting criticism from the opposition.

The government, however, downplayed such concerns.

Nazri was speaking to reporters in the Parliament lobby this morning, when inspecting new facilities for the use of the media.

Journalists had complained about the cramped working conditions in the temporary Parliament building, which saw over 40 reporters sharing an area about the size of a badminton court.

The entire ground floor of the lobby has now been given over to work space for the media, with sufficient tables, chairs and power sockets.