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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (2 December) . . Page.. 4243 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

government will insist that the department hold an absolutely clear picture of exactly which schools are benefiting and which schools are not benefiting from these extra sources of income and ensure that schools that are disadvantaged are subsidised, so that we do not end up with a two-tier public education system. I have mentioned it before, but I will say it again: The fact that we have charities offering scholarships and bursaries to help children get through our public education system in Canberra is absolutely appalling.

We also made recommendations about weeds. Much more needs to be done to prevent the introduction of weeds. We have been calling for some time, and were in fact working on legislation, for a ban on the sale of weeds and for the labelling of less invasive weeds with advice on how best to limit their spread beyond domestic gardens. I look forward to seeing a positive response from the Government to the recommendations of the Estimates Committee. I would like to thank Bill Symington and Fiona Clapin for their work in supporting the committee.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MR WHITECROSS (11.23): Pursuant to order, I present Report No. 31 of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, entitled "Report on the industry assistance program and the business incentive scheme", together with the minutes of proceedings. I move:

That the report be noted.

Mr Speaker, this inquiry was indeed needed. Although it is late in the life of the current Assembly, the committee's nine recommendations point the way to achieving a business incentive scheme more relevant to the needs of both the ACT and the business community, should the scheme continue in its present form next year. They also focus on the desirability of a more transparent and responsive basis for providing business development assistance.

One significant recommendation is that the Public Accounts Committee in the next Assembly resume this inquiry and access data used by this committee. That recommendation resulted from the committee's inability to access material from the administering agency essential to its being able to make a more detailed assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the business incentive scheme. Although the committee explained fully the imperatives driving this inquiry, it had difficulty in obtaining a departmental submission. When eventually received, the submission lacked essential information and further delays were experienced in obtaining additional information from the department.

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