Madam Deputy Speaker, we expressed reservations at the outset of this process when the initial motion establishing the subcommittee was passed by this House. We need to have clarity on what is happening here. Parliament adopted a law implementing one of the most fundamental aspects of any constitutional system - the requirement of no taxation without representation - to enable members of this House to amend a Money Bill. We do not have the opportunity to amend a Money Bill and therefore we cannot exercise our duty and function of providing representation to the people of South Africa in respect of a Money Bill and taxation.
After the passing of this piece of legislation - admittedly a very complex piece of legislation - Parliament as a structure came back and said, we have difficulty in implementing it. They did not identify what those difficulties were. They merely said, we need to establish a committee to tell us exactly what those difficulties are and once we determine what they are, we will amend it. In the meantime, while identifying what the difficulties are, while we wait for the amendment to address those difficulties, we are not going to implement that piece of legislation.
Members of this House - through you, Madam Deputy Speaker - just think about it, if a department of state gave us that type of line. We have adopted extremely difficult pieces of legislation in many committees and we adopt legislation and we expect departments of state to just implement what is adopted. But when it comes to us, the structure of this Parliament has a completely different set of standards and we have a different response.
There is no justification, as the hon Harris pointed out, for the Budget Office not having been established. This is not an item that is subject to amendment. The amendments that are in discussion - perhaps when the committee decides what it is that is wrong - our amendment should not affect the Budget Office. The Budget Office is established in terms of the law. It is said that it is established by law, but you cannot find it anywhere in Parliament.
What we are faced with is the unwillingness of this Parliament - as an administrative structure, under the control of the Secretary to Parliament, under the supervision of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee, under the residual responsibility of the Speaker - to define the implementation of the law entrusted to it as an organ of state. None of us would tolerate anything similar from any other department subject to the oversight of this Parliament.
So, the real question is: For how much longer are we delaying, through these types of tactics, the implementation of the fundamental principle of no taxation without representation, finally giving this Parliament the power of amending Money Bills. [Time expired.]