Page 116 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 May 1989
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What I am proposing to do, as an interim arrangement, is require that all members make statements of their financial interests on a form that is similar to that required for members of the Commonwealth Parliament. These sorts of declarations cover real estate, share-holdings, company interests including trusts and partnerships, investments, other assets and sources of income, gifts, sponsored travel and hospitality received. I wish to make it clear at the moment that the declarations do not require the disclosure of amounts of money or the value of assets. They relate only to the nature of those issues, so for the moment at least we are not required to make a statement of the amounts involved.
The declaration will be provided to the Speaker and retained by him. In keeping with the commitment to openness of government, I propose that the statements be made available to members of the public on request. Mr Speaker, I table a copy of the proposed form which has already been circulated to members.
Mr Speaker, an even higher level of specific detail of private interests of the Ministers and their immediate families will be required. These will be provided in an additional return, similar to that provided to the Prime Minister by all Commonwealth Ministers. I will adopt the Prime Minister's practice and retain these detailed statements on a confidential basis.
Ministers will also provide me with written declarations that they believe that their personal affairs, or those of their immediate families, do not conflict with their public duty as Ministers. They will also confirm in writing that they will advise me of any relevant change to these circumstances.
Mr Speaker, I believe that these measures are an important and necessary demonstration by us to the ACT community, as I have said, that members and Ministers alike will conduct their public affairs with the highest of standards of integrity, accountability and honesty. I am currently considering whether for the longer term we should enshrine our declarations to the ACT community in law. I will inform the Assembly in due course of developments there.
On one point that Mr Collaery raised concerning senior advisers within the ACT Administration, I think we should make it clear to the Assembly that those advisers are already required to make declarations of their interests, and that, as far as I am aware, those declarations are current and have been kept up to date. It is certainly an issue that I will be ensuring is retained, and I would be very interested to know what exactly is in those statements of interest by senior officers, and to look at whether in our self-governing situation those statements are still in the relevant form that we might require.
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