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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2512 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

I heard the chair of another committee, Mr Osborne, say on radio on Friday that his committee, the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety, which I am a member of, had a heavy workload and that they had brought down more reports. I brought Mr Osborne's attention to the heavy workload of my committee has in conducting public inquiries into draft variations to the Territory Plan. He acknowledged that and said that he did not intend to put down the hard work of my committee. For that, I commend him. I would say it was a misunderstanding at the time. However, I will leave it to Mr Osborne to take the matter up at a later time if he wishes. I can assure the house the workload of my committee makes it an onerous task for all members of the committee. However, we are working very actively not only to achieve good outcomes for the ACT but also to keep pace with best practice which is being developed throughout Australia. I commend the report to the house.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition) (11.39): Mr Speaker, I present the following report:

I move:

When I moved on 6 May 1999 for the Assembly to establish the Select Committee on Government Contracting and Procurement Processes, I referred to the Bruce Stadium redevelopment project as a good example of the range of issues that needed to be examined. The previous day the Assembly had debated at length a motion calling on the government to release a raft of papers dealing with the redevelopment project. The government resisted the motion, but the Assembly eventually resolved in favour of it.

The debate reflected a growing concern, not only in the minds of members of this Assembly but in the broader community, that the manner in which the redevelopment project was being managed did not provide the kind of transparency that the expenditure of large amounts of public demands. And that, of course, is the nub of the matter. The government are charged with managing public affairs on behalf of the community that elects them. That is the responsibility of government.

Necessarily, that process involves the expenditure of public money and, necessarily, I would contend, governments have an obligation to reveal and explain how they go about that. The procurement process is one of the most fundamental of government undertakings. It follows that the need to disclose how a government goes about its procurement is one of its most fundamental obligations.

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