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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (2 December) . . Page.. 4374 ..

MR BERRY: Okay. It reads:

Where the Treasurer gives an authorisation under subsection (1), he or she shall cause a copy of the authorisation to be laid before the Legislative Assembly within 3 sitting days ...

You tell the Assembly what you have done. What happens then? Nothing. To use your expression, whoopee-do. The fact of the matter is that this Assembly ought to be making decisions about particular policies to which specific purpose funds may apply. I am informed by your officers that the Commonwealth could make a decision about a particular social policy or other policy throughout the framework of the ACT Government, they could give you the money, you could apply it and this Assembly would have nothing to do with the process. It could be a process which is totally abhorrent to the majority of the people in this Assembly.

I am saying to you that that is an inappropriate process and an abuse of the democratic parliamentary system, and it must be resisted. One day you will learn that this is the place that scrutinises policy for the ACT, not the Cabinet room. Whether you have a majority or not, this is the place that carries out the scrutiny. The point that I am - - -

Mrs Carnell: What do you think I do with the Treasurer's Advance?

MR BERRY: We can sack the Treasurer. The point to be made here is that this could lead to the application of a Commonwealth policy in the Territory by a friendly Territory government without reference to the Assembly. That is absolutely outrageous and untenable, and it cannot be acceptable to any member in this place if they have any sense of decency about democracy.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (10.10): I do not think I have ever heard so much rot in my life - although I probably have, come to think of it. What happens now is that the money comes in, the SPP comes in from the Commonwealth, and we take it out of the Treasurer's Advance.

Mr Berry: No.

MRS CARNELL: That is exactly what happens now. We take it out of the Treasurer's Advance. Certainly, the Treasurer's Advance is accountable. There is no doubt about that. But what happens - - -

Mr Kaine: About three months later you tell the Assembly what you did.

MRS CARNELL: That is right. I tell them eventually. We get around to that under the FMA. Mr Berry himself would have the same problem. Assume that tomorrow the Federal Government made $5m available for disability services via an SPP, which is what we are trying to convince them to do. The only way we can manage that at this stage is to take the $5m out of the Treasurer's Advance.

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