I'd say two things.
The appearance of ministers before standing committees to defend their estimates is not a new thing. Your dad would tell you that this was something that was fundamental. Ministers always appeared before parliamentary committees to defend their estimates. Any movement away from that long-standing tradition in recent years was fairly new.
What we're doing as a government is making sure we can speak on behalf of our government, that we will, as ministers, appear before parliamentary committees when asked to defend our estimates. It is expected.