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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (29 March) . . Page.. 1039 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

as they were about the subject. But the fact is that the public sector accountant of the year has made some very serious errors in the way in which he has evaluated this budget.

Mr Stanhope: Tell us about the assets in the retail arm of ACTEW.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Stanhope: Come on, tell us about the assets in the retail arm.

MR SPEAKER: Be quiet, otherwise you will be dealt with.

MR HUMPHRIES: Perhaps you should go back to talking about your laundry list, Mr Stanhope. Perhaps that would be better. Mr Speaker, on the question of the treatment of superannuation in the budget, we had a $52m error made by the shadow Treasurer of the ACT.

Mr Moore: A gaffe.

MR HUMPHRIES: A gaffe, in fact. The actuarial gain arising from the reduction in the Territory's superannuation liability meets the definition of revenue according to statement of accounts concepts 4 that I referred to before. The treatment is consistent also with the international accounting standard for employee benefits, IAS 19, and the approach was discussed and agreed with the Auditor-General during the audit of the 1998-99 financial statements. As members know, the gain that the Territory achieved there was capitalised in the superannuation accounts and it is being amortised over the coming 12-year period, determined by the actuary to be the future membership period of fund members to the review date. That is all perfectly clear. We have treated it in a consistent way, in consistency with the Auditor-General's views about the matter. Mr Quinlan's comments amount to a $52m mistake on the budget.

Mr Stanhope: Have you worked out the difference between a lease and a block?

MR HUMPHRIES: I would rather be mistaken on the difference between a lease and a block than about $52m. There is a considerable difference between those two things.

Mr Stanhope: Are those three blocks still on the Chief Minister's table where you put them?

MR SPEAKER: Mr Stanhope, have you yet worked out the difference between being present and not being present in this chamber, because you may find out shortly?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I know that it is upsetting for those opposite, but they need to acknowledge that what they had here was a very serious error made in the accounting treatment of issues as fundamental as earnings on interest and superannuation accounts.

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