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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 1 Hansard (30 April) . . Page.. 277 ..

(c) takes or agrees to take, directly or indirectly, any remuneration, allowance,
honorarium or reward for service rendered in the Assembly, otherwise than
under section 73.

In relation to paragraph 14(a) of the Self-Government Act, section 103 of the Electoral Act 1992 provides that a person is not eligible to be a Member of the Assembly if, inter alia, the person:

* holds an office or appointment (other than a prescribed office - ie, office of Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, Minister or MLA) under a law of the Territory, the Commonwealth, a State or another Territory;

* is employed by the Territory, the Commonwealth, a State or another Territory authority or a body (whether corporate or not) established by a law of the Commonwealth, a State or another Territory,

and is entitled to any remuneration or allowance (other than reimbursement of expenses reasonably incurred) in respect of the office, appointment or employment.

This provision is not dissimilar to the provisions of Section 44 of The Constitution which, I believe, emanates from a strong historic concern regarding and even mistrust of the influence of the Crown in the House of Commons. In fact, in the House of Commons a Member cannot relinquish his or her seat and Members who wish to retire accept office under the Crown which were offices or places of profit in former times.

In relation to paragraph 14 (1)(c) of the Self-Government Act, section 73 of that Act lists various offices (including that of a Member of the Assembly) where provision can be made for the payment of remuneration and allowances for services rendered. I am of the opinion that the proposed executive committee chairs could not be remunerated for services rendered in their positions without jeopardising their seats as Members as they are not Ministers and any such remuneration could not relate to their duties as a Member. Also, although paragraph 73 (1)(g) of the Act does make provision for an office to be declared by enactment to be an office to which section 73 applies, should the Assembly proceed to enact such a law, it would have to give very careful consideration to the rationale behind the provision. It could be argued that any payment of the chairs would not be for "services rendered in the Assembly" but account would need to be taken of (a) the fact that it is proposed that the executive committees report to both the Assembly and cabinet and (b) the provisions of section 103 of the Electoral Act.

Particular care would also need to be taken in regard to the payment of any travel allowance (as currently, travelling allowance for Members applies to travel on "Assembly business") and in the allocation of an extra staffing allowance to ensure that Members who chair or participate in the proposed executive committees do not vacate their seats as Members.

The Proposed Executive Committees

There are a number of matters that need to be addressed in relation to the procedures of executive committees and no doubt these matters are under consideration. There are three specific matters however, that I would like to address - membership, staffing and their powers and immunities.

In relation to the membership of the proposed executive committees, I have doubts whether the chairs could legally appoint members as indicated in the Chief Minister's press release as that is an executive function and would have to be the prerogative of the responsible Minister. Issues arise as to the criteria for appointment. These can be summarised as:

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