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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 11 Hansard (21 October) . . Page.. 3463 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

there was a very good response to the working party on the review of the governance of the ACT, chaired by Professor Pettit. As I believe I have mentioned before, the working party completed its consultation work in an exceptional manner, and it has given both the Government and the select committee much to consider.

The members of the select committee have taken on the challenges of the Pettit Report and I would like to thank the select committee for their careful consideration of the issues raised by the Pettit Report. In general terms, the Government is comfortable with the majority of the committee's recommendations and has in fact already moved to implement some of them.

In July, I announced that the Government had agreed to trial a new budget process for the next financial year. The new budget process would see the Legislative Assembly's five standing committees directly involved in the development of the budget for the first time since self-government.

The Government is keen to develop a more cooperative and inclusive approach to financial management among all Assembly members and the trialling of a draft budget process is a significant step towards achieving this goal. I hope that all members from the crossbenches and the Opposition will embrace this initiative. The Government is confident that it will lead to a better understanding among all MLAs of the financial challenges that the Territory faces, and also better outcomes for the Canberra community.

The Government is not able to accept the committee's recommendations concerning the term of the Assembly and the number of members. The committee's report concludes:

The Government cannot accept this cowering and backward-looking view. The important issue is that the people of the ACT have an effective Assembly. The Government is of the view that maintaining the current small number of members in the Assembly as the ACT population continues to grow will not facilitate effective representation. We need to look to the future needs of the ACT now, rather than shying away from dealing with issues because of a past perception that is already changing in any event.

The Assembly needs to have a positive and visionary approach to these matters. I look forward to continuing dialogue with all members of the Assembly as we continue to progress with implementation of the review of the governance of the ACT recommendations. This entire process has offered us an exciting opportunity to improve the way we conduct the business of governing the Territory. I am confident that the Assembly will meet the challenges of seizing this opportunity and make a real difference to the lives of all Canberrans into the new millennium.

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