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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2597 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

The committee welcomes the draft strategy as a first step towards a comprehensive and detailed plan for the management of ACT publicly-owned assets. The committee endorses the goals of disclosure and improved accountability leading to higher-quality decisions in relation to asset management. The committee also welcomes the attention to environmental and heritage issues and the recognition of non-financial factors in asset management. It is the committee's view that the strategy has the potential to be at the forefront of best practice in Australia, especially if it establishes a workable model for environmental accounting of assets.

There is scope for further work to ensure that the strategy is relevant to the prudent management of Territory assets. Most members of the committee consider that the strategy could give more emphasis to social equity issues and the positive opportunities which could be derived from public ownership. Accordingly, most members consider that there should be further consultation with the relevant community organisations on social equity and social indicators, with a view to incorporating greater emphasis on these matters into the final strategy, as has been done with environmental and heritage matters.

The committee feels that it should urge the ACT community to take a greater interest in the strategy, which is in essence an abstract document. Implementation of the strategy will have quite profound effects on specific areas of the community, and the committee's recommendations include a recommendation that the Government monitor the usefulness, practicality and effectiveness of the strategy over 12 months after implementation and that it report appropriately to the Assembly. I commend the committee's report to the Assembly.

MRS LITTLEWOOD (11.48): I want to draw the Assembly's attention to my dissenting comments related to public ownership. I did not believe that the assumptions made in the report were correct. They were really based on theory rather than on any hard research. Because land sales have been reduced, I felt that the land release component was not relevant. I thought the Government should be congratulated on the initiative of looking at an asset management strategy. We have not previously had such a strategy in place. I think committees are meant to be apolitical as much as they can possibly be. If we want to make negative comments we should also make positive comments. I just want to draw that to your attention.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MR WHITECROSS (11.49): I present Report No. 28 of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, entitled "Review of Auditor-General's Report No. 3, 1997 - 1995-96 Territory Operating Loss", together with extracts of the minutes of proceedings, and I move:

That the report be noted.

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