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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (11 November) . . Page.. 3965 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

I think, though, that a board of this size is reasonably difficult to manage. I think a board of this size winds up with a whole series of issues that are simply about its size. A much more efficient size, as far as I am concerned, for a board of this kind, is four or five members.

It seems to me that there is an administrative way of dealing with the issue that I raise. The administrative way of dealing with it is to say that of this group of people, however it works out after the amendments are moved, five form the executive of the board. They do the work and bring that back to the board as a whole. It seems to me that there is a possibility of doing that administratively. Instead of this whole board meeting six or seven times a year, as I understand it currently does, it could meet perhaps twice a year to discuss and endorse the decisions that are made - not in terms of a rubber stamp, but in terms of looking carefully and perhaps modifying some things at the edges. I think that would be a better way of going about it.

Mr Speaker, let me just foreshadow a couple of amendments. One is a technical amendment that I will deal with. It has been circulated. The other is an amendment to clause 7 of the Bill that I have also just circulated. It is about ministerial directions. Ms McRae said something to the effect - I hope I am not misrepresenting her - that we now have the opportunity to ensure that these decisions are made out of the political arena; that they are made appropriately by the board. There is one exception to that, and that is that the Minister may, by instrument, give directions to the board in relation to the performance of its functions. It seems to me it is very clear that the Minister cannot interfere with individual assessments or an individual student, and that is appropriate. However, the Bill goes on to say, "the Board shall give effect to a direction under this section". So the Minister still has that power.

The way that this Assembly deals with those issues as a rule is to make such a direction a disallowable instrument. We normally do that under section 10 of the Subordinate Laws Act. Therefore, I have circulated an amendment to that effect. It is just a double-check on the power of the Minister to make that direction. Furthermore, it is my understanding that membership of the board, being statutory appointments, except where they are public servants, would be subject to the Statutory Appointments Act, and therefore there is a double-check by the Assembly on the appointments that are made. I will speak to Ms McRae's amendment when we get to that stage of the debate.

Mr Speaker, apart from those minor factors, it does give me pleasure to support this Board of Senior Secondary Studies Bill. I recall preparing courses while I was teaching, and helping other people as well to prepare courses, that were to go to the Board of Senior Secondary Studies. The quality of courses in Canberra is a great credit to the board. It was very interesting to me, having taught in South Australia at Year 12 level, at matriculation level, and having moved to Canberra, to see the quality of the courses operating here. In spite of the fact that in South Australia the courses were developed Statewide and many of them were very good, they missed many of the qualities that were attained by the system that operated in Canberra. The ability to make courses relevant

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