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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4622 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

The fourth thing I learnt is that, despite our 111 meetings and many reports, there remains a great deal of community and government activity that did not come before us. Sometimes the Government has made decisions based on inadequate consultation and, in retrospect, it might have been useful to get committee input into these decisions. Nothing illustrates this better than the way a strategic plan for the Territory was prepared.

The Planning and Environment Committee initiated a formal inquiry into a strategic plan; but, at a crucial time when we were down to considering which consultant to appoint to assist us, we allowed ourselves to be convinced by the Government saying, "Look, we have the resources and the contacts in the Federal Government to do this project better and quicker than an Assembly committee ever could". The result was Canberra: A Capital Future, which flopped in this place. Considering this committee's success in dealing with so many other difficult issues during the life of the Assembly, I consider that, had the Government assigned the same staffing level to this committee as it allocated to developing Canberra: A Capital Future, we would now have an agreed position on what a strategic plan for the Territory should look like. Of course, Mr Speaker, as an aside, I say it is easy to be wise in retrospect. I have to say that the development of a suitable strategic plan remains a vital role for an appropriate committee of the Fourth Assembly. It will involve extensive community input and will not be an easy task. I know that a great deal of that work has been done and it would be ridiculous to repeat that.

Finally, I note that the Planning and Environment Committee sometimes seems to work pretty near the area traditionally seen as belonging solely to the Executive. In part, this is because the committee has a statutory role, under the provisions of the Land Act, in relation to draft variations to the Territory Plan; but it also reflects our system of minority government. While I recognise that there is a limit to how far an Assembly committee should be involved in matters that are properly in the Executive's domain, I think it likely that our committee system will continue to push those boundaries. I hope that some of these personal observations may be useful to members of this Assembly and perhaps the next Assembly.

Debate resumed from 6 November 1997, on motion by Mrs Carnell:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

MS REILLY (5.38): This Bill deals with the transfer interstate and back into the ACT of people under various types of mental health orders. It appears to be a simple Bill because it will expedite the transfer of patients in a number of circumstances. Obviously, there will be times, because of the size of the ACT, when we will need to transfer people interstate for various types of treatment. The Bill also will allow us to apprehend people in the ACT for transfer interstate, and vice versa in terms of people from the ACT under mental health orders for return to the ACT for various reasons. Obviously, the basis for this legislation is related to treatment and therapy. It also has to do with community safety.

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