Perhaps returning to the earlier question of Member Duncan as well, as you know, in our government system there are a number of independent agencies that are related to the executive and funded by the executive, but they fundamentally operate without the kind of political direction and control that's normal in a ministerial line accountability. Then there are officers of Parliament, like the Chief Electoral Officer and others, who are even more independent, in a sense, and have to report to Parliament through a minister. That's the system that was established and abided by.
It would be neither appropriate nor suitable for us to be here to speak to the budgeting process of the Chief Electoral Officer or those other independents. I regret that if there were questions that representatives of those departments and agencies.... I'll speak for them and say I'm sure they would be happy to appear before you and answer the questions you have. This would be true for other departments and agencies, as was noted, in our system of governance.
I know the committee is looking at the estimates process. You can decide if, through that process, you would like to make some changes. But in our system those independent officers submit budgets through ministers. That's effectively how our system works. We cannot speak to the decisions and choices that were made by the Chief Electoral Officer.