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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2641 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

It is a serious problem for a sizeable chunk of the community, and it needs to be addressed. The community want to see something happening, and they cannot see it. That is the problem.

Mr Speaker, I agree with Mrs Carnell that these ministerial councils perform an important function. I expect that she probably agrees with me that the travel and the work involved in them can be quite tedious. Nevertheless, it is a responsibility that governments, like the ACT's and others, have to put a lot of effort into if we are going to get the best results for us and for others across the country.

It is important to have a Commonwealth government that has a range of policies which provide the services required by people affected by the various jurisdictions, rather than a Commonwealth government that is prepared to go along to the ministerial councils and mouth the words but not respond with actions. I go back to the issues that I raised in question time. When we see a Prime Minister who has got stuck into a place such as the ACT with the most savage economic policies, it is hard to believe that Federal Ministers who go to these ministerial councils really go there with any good intent.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MR SPEAKER: I have received a letter from Ms Tucker proposing that a matter of public importance be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:

The right of Members of the Legislative Assembly to scrutinise the economic, social and environmental performance of Territory Owned Corporations and to freely make reasonable public statements on matters of Assembly and public interest without fear of litigation.

MS TUCKER (4.19): I raise this matter of public importance today because I believe that free debate by elected representatives must not be able to be gagged and that we must be able to scrutinise the performance of Territory-owned corporations. This matter of public importance can be broken down into two areas of grave and increasing concern. Firstly, I am currently threatened with defamation proceedings by the former chief executive officer of the Territory-owned corporation ACTEW for making public comments on an issue arising from ACTEW activities which I believed to have an impact on the environment and which I know to be of interest to the Assembly and to the community. The first issue in the debate is therefore the defence of my right as an elected member of the Legislative Assembly, indeed the right of all elected members of this Assembly, to scrutinise the activities of Territory-owned corporations and indeed other businesses and to make reasonable public comments about them without fear of defamation proceedings. The second issue is the accountability of public corporations.

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