Page 1945 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 May 1991
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My understanding of the Brisbane City Council model is that a member of the council who has a form of "executive responsibility" for certain matters is responsible for chairing the council committee that looks at those issues. The planning committee is chaired by the member within the council who has responsibility for that council operation. We must remember, Mr Deputy Speaker, that, unlike all State parliaments within Australia, this parliament has total control and responsibility for planning matters. In all other jurisdictions in Australia, planning matters fall within the ambit and the responsibility of local government. They operate, admittedly, within a broad guideline that is established by State planning legislation. However, the actual mechanics and operation of the city plans, for example, are conducted by the various councils.
Mr Moore: Within the constraints of the State parliament.
MR JENSEN: That is what I just said, Mr Moore, if you were listening - within the constraints of the State parliament. We have seen recently, in the documents that are circulated containing cuttings from newspapers, that there is a proposal for a new system of planning within the city of Adelaide. It is proposed that there will be a requirement for some amendments to State legislation to allow the city of Adelaide to operate in a much more combined way, in much the same way as will be established in the ACT by the planning legislation.
So, Mr Deputy Speaker, a member of the Brisbane City Council who has direct responsibility for a particular matter, be it planning or transport or finance, chairs that committee in which all the other members of the council participate. That is probably as close to an executive committee system as you could get, because the member who chairs such a committee has a greater responsibility from an executive and a delegated point of view than I have ever had and will ever have.
When this matter was first brought up, Mr Wood thought that, as an Executive Deputy, I would have some form of delegated power, some form of executive responsibility. Mr Deputy Speaker, when the Chief Minister tabled in this Assembly the document that identified the roles and the way that the Executive Deputy system was to operate in the ACT, it was very clear that no executive responsibility or delegated powers were provided to those Executive Deputies.
That was also in relation to the issue of my participation in discussions with members of the community. Mr Deputy Speaker, when I have one of the many meetings that I have with members of the ACT community who come to me with an issue, I make arrangements for representatives of the department to participate in the discussions. One of the first things that I do is to put very clearly on the record who is responsible for what. Mr Wood was asking for this information, and I will provide it to him now.
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