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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (16 April) . . Page.. 910 ..

MS McRAE (continuing):

In this context the move to place the university under ACT Government control is a welcome one. It is in line with national management of tertiary institutions and in a way brings into the fold a member of the family that has not quite been part of our community before. The appointment by the Government of 10 of the 22 members of the council - appointment by the Chief Minister, in fact - will give the community a significant say in the running of their own university. I think the capacity of the ACT Assembly to examine the statutes of the university will be a productive and useful exercise, both for the Assembly and for the university.

It is a pity, in that setting, that the reporting and auditing guidelines that the university will follow will continue to be on a calendar basis. We have found in the Estimates Committee process that it is much easier to keep a tab on departments and institutions if the reports are put in place in September. Now that I mention it, Mr Speaker, could I ask the Minister, through you, to advise the Assembly as to whether the new reporting requirements that the Assembly passed late last year will apply to the University of Canberra? I think the requirement is that the annual reports have to be in around September. The Minister advised me when we were beginning to speak on this Bill that in fact the Federal Government's reporting and accounting requirements may well affect the Bill in the Federal Parliament. I would like the Minister, when he speaks on this Bill, to advise us how the ACT reporting requirements affect the University of Canberra and how the proposed changes to the Federal requirements will affect the reporting requirements for the University of Canberra.

I realise that it is a big ask to have an institution change from annual reports on a calendar year basis to annual reports on a financial year basis; but, in the way that the Assembly has operated, it has been quite useful. Just to know the possibilities would be very useful. It would also be very useful to know whether they will be required to report in accrual accounting format, as every other department or institution in the ACT is required to. Will they come into that fold as well or will their reporting requirements and financial requirements be different from that?

I am well aware that this Bill has taken three years to be developed, and the Opposition will support it; but a great deal has changed in the last three years, particularly in the area of public sector employment conditions. Again, Mr Speaker, I would like the Minister to confirm and to assure us that the staff of the University of Canberra are not going to be disadvantaged by this move in line with the changes that have happened to the ACT public sector.

In closing, I note that the transfer of the University of Canberra to ACT Government responsibility is dependent on enabling legislation from the Commonwealth. Again, the Minister mentioned this to me. As far as we understand the process, our passing of the legislation here today will put us on a good footing, but when the enabling legislation has been passed by the Federal Parliament things will happen. I would like to call on the Minister to assure us that the Federal Liberal Government will take this on as a priority issue. There has been very little evidence thus far that the Federal Government cares at all about the future of the ACT. I would particularly like, in this area, for the Minister to inform the house that he, in fact, is keeping an eagle eye on this and will not let it slip through after we have gone ahead and enabled this change to happen.

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