Page 2687 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 1991
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MR COLLAERY: Mr Speaker, I will make it easy for you. I am not implying or imputing to these members - and I withdraw, unreservedly - any imputation of criminal conduct, as Mr Connolly puts it. Nor did I allege any matters of criminal conduct. I referred to the Australian Federal Police as a body that might be the appropriate one to investigate payments that seem to be irregular. That is the extent of the concern that I have in this chamber. I believe that the principle of free speech in this chamber requires us to speak very frankly and candidly of a situation. That situation has arisen in this chamber and you, Mr Speaker, advised that you were never approached to pay those air fares. They have been paid by a Labor ministry for another member of this chamber. I have withdrawn it, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Collaery.
Mr Berry: I seek leave to make a statement in relation to this matter.
MR SPEAKER: I am not sure that Mr Collaery had finished his statement, Mr Berry.
MR COLLAERY: Mr Speaker, if I may continue, the Labor Government was on clear notice, on absolutely clear notice, that a significant group of this Assembly were concerned not only about the tenure of the Auditor-General but also about that of the Ombudsman and the judges and magistrates of our courts in the Territory.
Mr Speaker, there is a lot to debate in Ms Follett's letter to the Auditor-General. It sets the Auditor in a position where he would not be aware or have any knowledge of his situation until late October or early November. Mr Speaker, that covers the period of important work of the Public Accounts Committee of this Assembly, which will act on the Auditor's reports. Clearly, it is unsatisfactory. If Ms Follett has a problem with the present Auditor-General, surely that should be dealt with in the conventional manner across the floor outside the chamber, if that is necessary. She should inform us or the party leaders as to whether she is seeking to fill the position or otherwise approach appropriate people, as is the tradition elsewhere in the country for appointments of this nature.
If Ms Follett is going to adopt this process for the appointment of an Auditor-General, will she do the same for judges, for example? I am not aware that the Commonwealth Auditor-General's position has ever been filled by an open, public, advertised merit selection process, like SES positions. The Auditor-General has a particular role in the separation of powers. That has been supported.
Mr Kaine: It is a statutory office.
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