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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4810 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Whatever the outcome of this debate, Mr Speaker, there is a need to ensure consistency in tabling requirements. Under Mr Whitecross's Bill, the tabling provision in section 22 of the TOC Act allows Ministers to table annual reports within 15 sitting days of receipt. Because this provision is unchanged, there is an inconsistency with the tabling provisions in the Annual Reports Act, which specifies six sitting days from receipt by the Minister. Leaving the TOC Act unchanged in this respect could result in the annual reports actually being tabled after the Estimates Committee hearings. To ensure consistency, then, subsection 22(4) of the TOC Act should be the same as the Annual Reports Act and should require the Minister to table such a report within six sitting days of receipt. Accordingly, Mr Speaker, I would like, at the appropriate time, to table amendments to address these inconsistencies.

Members should be aware that this Government agreed in 1996-97 that Ministers would table all reports presented under the Annual Reports Act early, that is, by the second sitting week in September. This ensures that reports are tabled by the time the Estimates Committee reconvenes in spring. However, members would be aware that including TOCs in this requirement could result in these reports being tabled in the Assembly before they are presented at an annual general meeting of TOCs' shareholders. While I am sure that our TOC executives will seek to avoid this occurrence, it is still possible that it may eventuate.

Mr Speaker, the second Bill seeks to amend the Annual Reports Act. The amendments to the Annual Reports Act appear to be aimed at giving greater consistency between the annual reports of TOCs and those of other Territory agencies. This consistency is achieved at the cost of additional reporting requirements that do not apply to the private sector. Greater consistency through additional reporting does come at this time at a quite substantial cost and is also not necessarily the most important consideration.

Through our program of financial management reform, my Government has shown consistent commitment to achieving greater efficiency in government and better use of public sector resources. We have, to a great extent, achieved this result. My Government has also shown its commitment to having less red tape encumbering private sector organisations, allowing them also to operate with greater efficiency. It is inconsistent, Mr Speaker, to now impose additional requirements at the cost of greater efficiency, and it does not make sense to require our TOCs to report as though they were the same as any other government agency. For example, more onerous reporting requirements apply to administrative units than to the reports of independent statutory appointees. The latter entities mainly report on the exercise of their statutory functions over the year. It simply does not make sense to apply the same rules across the board irrespective of what the different entities actually do.

If these amendments are agreed, the particular role of TOCs, including their role in the marketplace, should be taken into account in devising the reporting requirements to be set in the annual reports directions. The role of TOCs is different from that of other government agencies, due to the commercial nature of these activities. Their creation as

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