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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (2 December) . . Page.. 4392 ..

Clause 8

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (11.20): I move:

Page 3, line 28, proposed paragraphs 12A(1)(a) to (d) (inclusive), omit "public trading enterprise" (wherever occurring), substitute "Territory authority".

Mr Speaker, consistent with amendment No. 4, the Government amendment clarifies that the intent of the Bill is to require specified information from Territory authorities.

Amendment agreed to.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (11.21): Mr Speaker, I move:

Page 4, line 7, proposed subsection 12A(2), omit "A proposed budget shall be prepared in a form", substitute "The budget papers shall include material".

The revised wording allows for the fact that there are a number of methods available for enabling comparison between years. They are reconciliation statements, explanation statements, notes, et cetera.

MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition) (11.21): If what the Chief Minister says is true, why are the words which are proposed in the original Bill not appropriate? They are:

A proposed budget shall be prepared in a form that facilitates a comparison between the budget for the public trading enterprise for the previous financial year and the proposed budget.

What is wrong with that?

Mr Whitecross: It is the same form of words as was used in clauses 6 and 7.

MR BERRY: And it has been used earlier on in the Bill. So, it just strikes me as a bit odd that we would seek to - - -

Mrs Carnell: I suppose it is a difference between "material" and "form".

Mr Whitecross: We have already passed it for two other clauses. Why should we not be consistent?

Mrs Carnell: We did not want it.

MR BERRY: You may not have wanted it; but it has been passed for a couple of other clauses and it is consistent with earlier parts of the Bill. It says, essentially, "A proposed budget shall be prepared in a form that facilitates a comparison". Those are the key words for me. I think, for those reasons, those particular words should be retained.

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