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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 2 Hansard (20 May) . . Page.. 424 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

I ask everybody - this is really important - to pick up the bit of paper in front of you headed "Appendix A". Come on, quickly, everybody. This is the terms of reference, Mr Speaker, of the Allen Consulting Group's consultancy on poker machine legislation under the national competition policy, the review that we said we were doing. The consultancy has been let. The consultants will report in the next couple of weeks. Go down to the bottom of that. Remember that this is an independent consultant. This is the terms of reference. This is not something that the Government is doing internally. At the bottom it says:

The Contractor will specifically address:

(a) the social and economic impact of gambling in the ACT community;

Now, Mr Speaker, can we go to the motion that Ms Tucker has put on the table. It says:

(a) a Select Committee on Gambling be appointed to inquire into and report by the first sitting day of 1999 on the social and economic impacts of gambling in the ACT ...

Mr Speaker, what is the difference?

Mr Berry: This one takes precedence. That is the difference. This is open and consultative government.

Mr Quinlan: This one is objective.

MS CARNELL: So a select committee of the Assembly is objective and Allen Consulting are not? Do you want to step out of here and say that and see what Allen Consulting say about that, Mr Quinlan?

Mr Berry: They have their riding instructions.

MS CARNELL: Terms of reference are riding instructions. Those are they, Mr Speaker. If Mr Berry is suggesting that consultants will do whatever you want them to do, why on earth would the Assembly appoint a consultant to work for the select committee? Why would there be a difference?

Mr Speaker, I have no problems and the Liberal Party have no problems with a select committee - none whatsoever. We have no problems with the membership of the committee. We have no problems if a select committee wants to report on these issues. I think that the reporting date of the first sitting day of 1999 provides for a very long time to look at something that there has been an enormous amount of work done on, and we have a consultant that will be reporting in two weeks' time. We are very happy for the consultant's report to go to the select committee. That is a sensible approach, is it not? There is an independent consultant out there doing the work and that report will go to the select committee. That is very sensible. But you would not want to have another consultant under those circumstances, Mr Speaker.

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