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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (30 August) . . Page.. 2638 ..
Mr Corbell: Yes.
Leave granted.
Mr Corbell: I table the following document:
Infill sites-Copy of minute relating to studies for infill sites, dated 2 February 2000, from Executive Director, Department of Treasury and Infrastructure to Executive Director, Planning and Land Management, Department of Urban Services.
MR KAINE: My question is to the Chief Minister. The response of the Attorney-General to the previous question is quite pertinent to the question I am about to ask because it relates to ministerial responsibility within parliamentary democracy. Perhaps I am naive enough to believe that we still operate under the concept of parliamentary democracy in the territory.
I want to refer to some comments that the Chief Minister made on this matter in 1994. In an interview on ABC radio on 24 November 1994 the Chief Minister said:
Our whole system of government is based upon ministers being responsible for what happens in their departments.
In May of that year, in respect of the VITAB inquiry, she made other comments:
I believe it would be up to a government that I was a minister in to ensure that absolute accountability was in place ...
Finally, she said:
At the end of the day the minister is responsible.
Chief Minister, having regard to that background, can you outline for my edification and for the edification of other members of this place what you now understand to be inherent in the concept of ministerial accountability and responsibility?
MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I am very happy to reiterate those comments totally. It is interesting, though, that in 1994 the view of the Assembly was that Mr Berry should not be sacked for his lack of taking responsibility for a particular contract that was signed in his department. If you remember, that was the view of the Assembly because Mr Berry was not held responsible to that extent for that issue. In the end the Assembly chose to move a motion of no confidence in Mr Berry because he misled the Assembly.
Mr Speaker, I think the same issues continue to be the case. There is no doubt at all that issues in our various departments are our responsibility and we will do everything in our power to sort out any problems that exist. But there will always be mistakes that happen in large organisations. There will always be things that do not go right. There might even be grass that dies, Mr Speaker. At the end of the day it is not about pointing the finger,
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