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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (21 June) . . Page.. 2300 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

Just bunging in one aspect of it without any consideration for all the other issues in relation to resourcing and management is just not good government or good administration. It compounds the very felonies that yesterday's Auditor-General's report reveals in relation to management and professional public service. Have a look at yesterday's report of the Auditor-General, the 30 recommendations and what we need to do to get a professional public service. This is not the way to do it. You do not do it by bringing in over the top of what the government is hoping to achieve in relation to this one aspect of the Auditor-General's report, namely, the complete lack of records management, this nitpicking, opportunistic little bill outside cabinet, irrespective of what already has been agreed in cabinet and without any consideration of how they mesh. It's a nonsense way to proceed, absolutely nonsense. It is totally inefficient and totally self-serving. We need to adjourn this. We need to see how we can deal with the issues in relation to prospective and retrospective release of executive documents, namely cabinet documents, and we need to consider them in the context of the Territory Records Bill to see how it all meshes.

There is one other point I will make. An extremely sound and sensible submission that was made to the justice committee, as I said, a committee report to which the government has not yet had an opportunity to respond so that we know what its position is on this issue, does need to be dealt with. The Society of Archivists, in its submission, made a whole raft of recommendations and suggestions which one hopes the government has picked up in its bill. But we do not know that because the government has not had an opportunity to respond either to the Executive Documents Release Bill or to give us the benefit of its wisdom in relation to the Territory Records Bill.

There is so much work that needs to be done. This is ad hoc, pre-emptive, opportunistic and inefficient, and it should not be proceeded with today.

Motion (by Mr Berry ) put:

That the debate be adjourned.

The Assembly voted-

	Ayes 6  			Noes 9

 Mr Berry  	Mr Wood  	Mrs Burke  	Mr Osborne
 Mr Hargreaves      		Mr Cornwell  	Mr Rugendyke
 Mr Kaine    			Mr Hird  	Mr Stefaniak 
 Mr Quinlan    			Mr Humphries  	Ms Tucker   
 Mr Stanhope    		Mr Moore  

MR BERRY (11.35): Mr Speaker, we will hear more self-righteous claptrap from Mr Moore in relation to this matter, and we heard a little bit of self-righteous claptrap from the Chief Minister in relation to it as well.

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