Page 4770 - Week 16 - Monday, 25 November 1991
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It is to the shame of this Assembly that the Auditor-General's report was not acted upon by the Government, which has the requisite powers to remedy the situation. In fact, the Labor Government did not seek even to debate the Auditor's claims. On 19 September 1991 the Auditor-General made a further report, No. 9, revealing that the Government had not handled the question of his reappointment in a straightforward manner.
This amendment seeks to fulfil the Auditor's aims with respect to independence from the Executive. As members are aware, section 65 of the self-government Act and the relevant standing order make it difficult for non-government initiatives in this Assembly to alter the appropriation of funds and deal with the Auditor's complaints that his office has been denied sufficient resources to undertake the audits he considers necessary, namely, generic drug use in ACT hospitals, the use of consultants in the ACT Government Service, the management of human resources in the ACT Government Service, and the enforcement of lease purposes and conditions.
Members are well aware how sensitive the Government is on the vexed question of how many public servants are on the payroll. We would have expected the Auditor-General to be able to undertake that inquiry if the Government was unable to do so itself. Were improper motive to be associated with a decision to deny funds to the Auditor, the provisions of the Crimes (Amendment) Bill (No. 6) 1991, which the Rally has just moved, would catch, in our opinion, any such abuse of power.
The new section 18A of the Audit Act will ensure that the Auditor-General is completely free from Executive instruction. The drafting has also taken into account section 39 of the self-government Act, which will allow the appointment of a Minister who is not a member of the Executive. The Rally also believes that, free from Executive direction, the Auditor-General should now take over line responsibility for the ACT Government fraud control unit, known as the Investigations Unit. This will overcome the present unacceptable "Caesar unto Caesar" situation within the Chief Minister's Department.
I remind members that the ACT Executive will not be subjected to Assembly scrutiny between the rising of the Assembly on or about 17 December 1991 and the declaration of the poll some four to five months later. I therefore commend this provision to the Assembly and trust that it will have swift passage.
Debate (on motion by Ms Follett) adjourned.
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