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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4617 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

The committee has been an enthusiastic contributor to ACPAC, has learnt much from the association with peer committees, and I believe has been a significant contributor. I have to say that, on a weight-for-size basis, this committee can more than hold its own in the national arena.

The committee visited New Zealand in May 1996 to assess the regional effects on health, education and social welfare services in the light of the significant economic and financial changes which have been under way in that country since 1990. New Zealand has embraced economic and financial change involving accrual accounting concepts and has instituted purchaser-provider concepts over a wide range of services traditionally funded by government. The relevance of that visit was the move to establish the financial affairs of authorities of the ACT on an accrual accounting basis, and the committee was concerned to ensure that lessons to be learnt from the New Zealand experience were understood by the ACT.

I want to mention the relationship with the Auditor-General. The committee has had a close and cooperative relationship with the Auditor-General, a relationship which has been of benefit to the Assembly. The committee values the work of the Audit Office and gives testimony to the value to the Assembly and the ACT community of the office of Auditor-General in ensuring impartial and independent scrutiny of the transactions of the government. As members will know, the committee acquired Executive functions in relation to the Auditor-General under the Auditor-General Act 1996. The committee is tasked to consider and, if considered necessary, exercise a veto over the proposed appointment of an Auditor-General and must be consulted on the appointment of an Acting Auditor-General.

The Act also provides for the Auditor-General to make special reports to the committee which contain sensitive information omitted from other Auditor-General reports. Any such report to the committee is taken for all purposes to be referred to the committee for inquiry and such report as the committee considers appropriate. To this time no special reports have been made to the committee. The Act further provides that the committee chair advise the Treasurer of the Auditor-General's budget. That function was exercised fully this year and, as part of the process, the committee consulted with and had an influence on the development of the Auditor-General's performance audit program.

Finally, I want to refer to the committee's resources. Generally, the committee is able to access expertise and data from within the ACT government administration; but it is not always appropriate that this should be the sole source of such advice, and provision should be made for the committee to engage external consultancy services on complex technical matters. Compared with the government agencies that the committee deals with and with public accounts committees in other States and Territories, the committee is underresourced in terms of research capacity. I expect that this is a problem for other Assembly committees, and the next Assembly will need to seriously consider the level of resources allocated to committees if they are to continue to have an effective role in the functioning of the Assembly.

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