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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 1 Hansard (30 April) . . Page.. 278 ..

* they would not be appointed by the community as are Members of the Assembly;

* would the membership be representative of the community or lobby groups; and

* would the Minister appoint representatives of lobby groups, the community or the Public service on the committee or what mix of members would be appointed.

The staffing of the committees also raises questions. The Chief Minister has indicated that the committees would be supported by staff from the ACT Public Service. This gives focus to two particular issues, viz:

* would the committees receive the same advice as government Ministers - in fact would the very people who are providing the core advice and providing administrative support for the executive committees be providing advice for the Executive; and

* would these staff be located in Members' offices and if so, apart from the obvious basic and very important accommodation and access to resources questions that arise, would they be inevitably involved in the day to day operations of the office, deal with constituency matters and have access to material specifically provided to Members in their role as Assembly Members - particularly briefing material and other material confidential to Assembly committees.

Committees of the Assembly, in pursuing their role as defined by the Assembly, have access to certain powers and immunities and the protection of the Assembly is available to witnesses who give evidence before those committees. These particular parliamentary powers and immunities would not be available to the proposed executive committees and that matter would need to be taken into account by any MLAs proposing to chair or serve on those committees. In addition, it should be noted that I have noticed an assumption in the past that an order by the Assembly authorising publication of a document or a report subsequent to its prior publication somehow gives that document or report the protection of parliamentary privilege. In anticipating a possible move to have the Assembly authorise the publication of records of the proceedings of and the reports of executive committees, I draw Members attention to the following comments in the 8th Edition of Odgers' Australian Senate Practice:

The prior publication by other means of a document which is subsequently published by order of a House or a committee is not protected by parliamentary privilege. Similarly the content of a document which has come into existence independently of proceedings in Parliament, for example, a report or letter which is exchanged between two or more parties and is subsequently submitted to a House or a committee, is not protected by parliamentary privilege.10

On a related matter, there has also been an assumption that the particular authority held by Assembly officials when assisting in the maintenance of order in the Assembly or Assembly committee proceedings could be accessed by other bodies when meeting on Assembly premises. This is not necessarily the case.

Conclusion

Members have sought advice on the implications for the Assembly and its Members of the proposed system of executive committees chaired by Assembly Members. In seeking this advice the Members have also asked that other possibilities such as a widening of the membership of the proposed committees to include other Assembly Members be taken into account.

The governing of the Territory has a particular constitutional framework (as provided by
the Self-Government Act) based on the Australian adaption of "Westminster style"
parliamentary Government. It may well be that this may change and in the future a new
structure will be put in place as a result of the current review of governance of the
Territory, or from other proposals that emerge in the future. However, given our

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10 Odgers' Australian Senate Practice, 8th Edition, p. 47

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