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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (2 December) . . Page.. 4348 ..
[COGNATE DEBATE:
Debate resumed from 26 June 1997, on motion by Mrs Carnell:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MR SPEAKER: Is it the wish of the Assembly to debate this order of the day concurrently with the Financial Management (Amendment) Bill 1997? There being no objection, that course will be followed. I remind members that in debating order of the day No. 6 they may also address their remarks to order of the day No. 14, private members business.
MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition) (8.34): In speaking to these Bills, I refer in particular to the Bill introduced by Mr Whitecross to strengthen the provisions of the Financial Management Act which address the issues of transparency and accountability. Despite the Chief Minister's boasts concerning her commitment to open and public disclosure of all the financial circumstances of the Territory, her behaviour has been, in our view, quite different. This Treasurer resists scrutiny by the Assembly at every turn. We most recently experienced her determination in this regard at last month's Estimates Committee hearings. I heard members today expressing concern about that particular facet of her performance.
If the Assembly is to be allowed to do its job of properly scrutinising the Government's financial performance, it is essential that we have requirements on the timing and usefulness of the Government's financial reporting to the Assembly cemented in legislation. We cannot do our job if financial statements are provided months late, fortuitously timed, of course, so that we are in the middle of other pressing Assembly business, or about to take a well-earned break, or involved in some other matter which might divert our attention from these financial statements at the point of their release. Neither can we do our business if we cannot trust the quality of the statements provided and if we have no progressive provision of information on outputs. The Chief Minister boasts of her outputs-based accounting, but the monthly statements are inputs focused. All of the reporting on progress throughout the year is about inputs.
As far as the budget papers are concerned, this Government and this Treasurer have continued to stymie the Assembly's capacity to undertake proper scrutiny of the single most important piece of business which comes before this Assembly each year. It is imperative that we are able to compare the Government's proposals for the provision of services to the ACT community and the details of its financial management with what we know. We must be able to make sensible comparisons with the previous budget and the previous year's performance. This Treasurer has been asked to provide such information again and again. Each year the excuses are different but the outcome is the same. We do not get the information we require - certainly not the information that is required to make this Government open and accountable, as was promised mischievously to the electorate at the last election. No such outcome has flowed from that promise.
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