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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 2175 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

I wish to draw members' attention to some of the recommendations from the select committee. Recommendation 15 says this:

The committee recommends that all agency annual reports provide complete and clearly identifiable information about outgoings in the form of community and other grants to non-Governmental bodies.

In essence, this recommendation makes the government agencies more accountable and therefore more responsible to the people that they represent, the electors of Canberra. Recommendation 18 reads:

The committee recommends that the Government publish a strategy for addressing unemployment in the ACT, particularly for the long term and youth unemployed.

I believe that this parliament and the Government should be involved, in conjunction with its agencies, with programs to develop urgent strategies to direct resources to achieve this in the short and long term. Recommendation 28 reads:

The committee recommends that the Government assess the possible cost benefits of establishing a central purchasing office for Government agencies.

This was not achieved by previous governments over the last five years. This recommendation would immediately produce cost savings across all budget programs and provide the Government with considerable dividends, thereby benefiting the people of this Territory.

I would now like to turn to what I call a sharp political stunt by the Opposition. The Opposition has been saying that my colleague Mr Kaine and I support the budget being amended, in particular recommendation 32, which says:

The committee recommends that the Government consider the restoration of the $3.8 million wage increase for teachers as part of the education budget.

Mr Speaker, I draw your attention to two words, "recommends" and "consider". The Opposition, when they were in government, failed to take up a considerable number of recommendations contained in previous Estimates Committee reports. They were not taken up in the five years of the Follett Government. Now they expect to change the rules. Really, when you analyse those two words, Mr Speaker - "consider" and "recommends" - neither should they. Quite simply, as I said, it was a recommendation. It was a nice try.

However, as a member of that Estimates Committee, I must say how disappointed I was with the chair of that committee, Ms McRae. She supported this political sham, this political stunt, this political skulduggery. I would like leave to table a press release.

Leave granted.

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