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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 110 ..

Financial Reporting

MRS LITTLEWOOD: My question is to the Chief Minister. Can the Chief Minister inform the Assembly whether there is any basis to recent criticism by the Opposition of the Government's financial management reforms; and how does the current level of financial reporting compare with the situation under the previous Government?

MRS CARNELL: Thank you very much. That is a very good question. Mr Speaker, as the Assembly is aware, this Government has implemented reforms to the Territory's financial management framework which have taken it to the forefront of accountable and responsible government in this country. These reforms are not only about financial management; they run to the very core of the way we do business in the Territory. They are about improving our services to the people of the ACT. They are about ensuring that the Assembly has the information to ensure that the Government and its agencies are accountable and responsible for their management performance.

Mr Speaker, the Opposition has been ignorant of its own responsibilities within this Assembly to represent the taxpayers of the ACT. This Government has provided information on financial performance to an extent never before heard of in this Assembly - or, for that matter, in this country. Certainly, the information now being provided is in stark contrast to the opaque documentation presented by the previous Government. This Government's 1996-97 budget, its accounting and financial decision-making and planning and its reporting are based on generally accepted accounting principles and the Australian accounting standards. These principles not only are a consistent, universally recognised and comparable presentation, but reflect the proper information needed to optimise financial performance and consequently service performance. The previous Government presented only cash-based information - and, I have to say, Mr Speaker, not very regularly. It presented its budget and its reports according to an easily manipulated presentation format that did not show the full or true cost of government - a format that had little regard to the ACT's assets and liabilities, and a format that did not make it accountable for its true responsibilities.

As everyone in this house is aware, Mr Speaker, section 26 of the Financial Management Act requires whole-of-government financial statements to be prepared each month which are comparable to general purpose accounting statements presented in this year's budget documentation. The statements are to be presented to the Assembly within three sitting days of completion. The Government has met the requirements of the Financial Management Act, presenting the November 1996 financial management report to you, Mr Speaker, out of session earlier this month and tabling it in the Assembly yesterday.

Mr Whitecross: Nine weeks later.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Whitecross interjects and says that they were late. They were not late, Mr Speaker. As I said, it is very clear in the Act that they need to be presented within three sitting days of their actually being completed, and, Mr Speaker, that is the case.

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