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and, notwithstanding the worse than expected performance of the ACT economy over the past financial year, the gap in the budget has been closed considerably. Today, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, we are building upon those changes. The next step in the process of continuing the rationalisation of the ACT administration will commence on 1 July 1995 with the establishment of four portfolio groupings - grouping like functions within policy envelopes. They will be: Chief Minister’s; Business, the Arts, Sport and Tourism; Urban Services; and Community Services. Three-year rolling budgets will be developed within these envelopes. The creation of these policy envelopes will help us further quicken the pace of change in the ACT public sector. They will facilitate the development of longer-term planning and budgeting for service delivery. They will help improve the task of the Government in its decision-making.

In concentrating central agency functions within one department - my department - we will be improving the capacity of the administration to promote a corporate approach to decision-making. No longer will there be three separate lines of advice coming to me on important reform issues and government business. There will also be opportunities to consolidate corporate overhead functions by combining the three departments. A combined department will give added weight and energy to the Government's comprehensive program of public sector reform. Lines of communication will be improved. John Walker will head the expanded department. Mike Woods's role in managing the Office of Financial Management will be expanded to embrace the reform and monitoring of our business enterprises, including pricing and dividends. Similarly, Maureen Cane's role in the Office of Public Administration and Management will be focused on supporting the reform process, both through managing strategic program reviews and through improving public reporting and accountability requirements. Improving the quality of information available to the community about the cost and quality of our services will have a high priority in this task.

Building on our earlier changes to the Administrative Arrangements, a new department will be created to manage the functions that fall within the Business, the Arts, Sport and Tourism envelope. Jeff Townsend will head this new organisation, which will be responsible for promoting economic and cultural development in the Territory. The creation of the Department of Business, the Arts, Sport and Tourism is a reflection of our total commitment to promoting Canberra's economic growth and cultural development. With the exception of planning, the remaining functions of the Department of the Environment, Land and Planning will be combined with those of the Department of Urban Services within the Urban Services envelope. John Turner will head the new Department of Urban Services. This amalgamation of functions will strengthen the municipal part of our business and provide opportunities for streamlining and improving service delivery. The process of consolidating development approval systems will continue within the Department of Urban Services. The ACT Planning Authority will be an independent agency, as promised in our election campaign.

To complement the Government's public sector reform program, significant government activities which are capable of operating on a commercial basis are being further consolidated within a new, separate business group within the Department of Urban Services. Administrative arrangements within the Community Services envelope

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