Page 3994 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 23 November 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
We have also recommended that the Treasurer review the base funding of the Legislative Assembly to ensure that it is sufficient to maintain an appropriate level of service to members, particularly in the light of the move to the new building. This is an area of some concern. The level of funding is serious to the extent that services, or part services, to members essential to our roles as MLAs will not be provided unless action is taken in this particular area. I think it is sometimes difficult for us to look at our own needs, but this recommendation is certainly worth the Government's pursuing.
We have also recommended that progress in the development of a consultation process for the provision of bus-shelters and information relating to community demand for shelters to assess the adequacy of the reduction in funding be provided to the committee in 1994. The committee has recognised that this is an important issue, and I believe that the Minister for Urban Services has also acknowledged that this is an important issue. We can do better than we are currently doing with regard to consultation in this area. Madam Speaker, I could have spent a much longer period of time discussing each of these recommendations and other general and specific issues identified in the report. However, I extend an invitation to my committee colleagues to continue discussion and debate.
It remains for me to congratulate all of my committee colleagues - Mrs Carnell, Mr Cornwell, Mr De Domenico, Ms Ellis, Mrs Grassby, Mr Kaine, Mr Lamont, Mr Moore, Mr Westende, and in particular my deputy chairperson, Mr Humphries - on all of the fine work that the committee has done. Finally, Madam Speaker, the production of this report would not have been possible without the exceptional dedication and commitment to the task by staff of the Assembly Secretariat, most especially Ms Karin Malmberg. I congratulate her on her skill and professionalism. I have always been a person who has aimed for perfection in what I do, which makes me at times difficult to work with. Karin has responded willingly and contributed greatly to the work of the Estimates Committee in 1993. Madam Speaker, I commend the report of the Select Committee on Estimates 1993-94 to the Assembly.
MR KAINE (8.32): I think this is a report that is deserving of very careful consideration by the Government. As the chairperson has indicated, there are some 40 recommendations here. Those 40 recommendations have been distilled from a virtual mountain of evidence and information provided to the Estimates Committee. I believe that the report is a tribute to the secretary, Karin Malmberg, and her assistant, Karen Pearce. The fact that they have been able to reduce the amount of information that was provided to the committee into a report of this nature, I think, speaks volumes about their capacity and their capability.
The Ministers in the Government and their public servants who supported them at these hearings are to be commended also. This report is the result of many hours - in fact, days - of sitting in a committee room. The Ministers have always been there, to give them their due. They have generally responded very well to the questioning of the members of the committee. The public servants, the officers, who stand behind the Ministers are doing an increasingly better job year by year in meeting the demands of this committee. When you examine the mountain of information that was provided - much of it at short notice; much of it in minute detail - it is quite clear that the ACT Government Service is beginning to anticipate the kinds of things that the Estimates Committee might
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .