Page 621 - Week 02 - Thursday, 24 March 2022
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(e) the release of a series of eLearning modules designed to support public servants undertaking procurement;
(f) Introduction to Procurement—released on 13 May 2021;
(g) ACT Government Probity in Procurement—released on 25 June 2021;
(h) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Procurement Policy—released on 11 October 2021;
(i) launching the ACT Government Procurement Capability Framework to support the professional development of procurement professionals across the ACT Government; and
(j) establishing a Procurement Community of Practice to support procurement capability uplift and sharing of better practice knowledge; and
(3) acknowledges that:
(a) a significant amount of new and improved procurement policy and frameworks, guidance material, training, professional development and procurement capability building initiatives have been developed and implemented recently across the ACT Government; and
(b) the ACT Government enters into over 1000 notifiable contracts each year. An audit of all procurement processes would entail a disproportionate investment of time, staffing resources and associated costs, while pre-empting results of ongoing inquiries.”.
MR BRADDOCK (Yerrabi) (3.44): Government procurement and regulatory decisions must have a high degree of integrity and transparency. ACT government procurement decisions are an important way to support the local and regional economy but also to promote environmental and social responsibility. It is important and vital that these processes are fair and transparent, with well-resourced, independent oversight.
It is important to acknowledge that the Auditor-General’s report raised significant concerns about the procurement process for the Campbell Primary School modernisation project. The Auditor-General concluded that the procurement process lacked probity. Problems outlined in this instance by the Auditor-General raise questions about other procurement processes.
Following this report, the Integrity Commissioner urged members of the public with any information or suspicions about procurement to present that information to them. I support this call and say that if anyone has such information, please come forward with it. This is exactly why the Greens campaigned for years to get an Integrity Commission—to identify, investigate and root out corruption and to ensure that we can have confidence in our public institutions and organisations. If only we had such an ICAC at the federal level.
It is vital for our democracy that we have legislated integrity and oversight agencies that are free from outside influence, and that we resource them well and let them do their jobs and follow their processes. When they find a problem, it means that they are
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