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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 9 Hansard (22 August) . . Page.. 3208 ..

MR HIRD (5.55): I move:

That the report be noted.

This report has been a long time coming, and I think it speaks for itself.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Report No 8

Mr Speaker presented the following report:

Administration and Procedure-Standing Committee-Report No 8-Code of conduct for members of the Legislative Assembly and a parliamentary ethics adviser for the ACT, dated August 2001, together with a copy of the extracts of the minutes of proceedings.

MR OSBORNE (5.56): I move:

That the report be noted.

Mr Speaker, I seek leave to incorporate my speech in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows:

CODE OF CONDUCT

The question of whether or not there should be a code of conduct for all Members has been before the Assembly since 1995. As the Assembly is soon to go to an election, this report is presented to enable the code to be debated in the next Assembly.

Do we need a code?

Members of the Legislative Assembly already have a number of obligations under legislation, standing orders and resolutions of the Assembly. These obligations are quite extensive and are arguably quite sufficient to control dishonest or inappropriate conduct.

Furthermore, every Member has his or her behaviour and performance carefully assessed by the electorate at every election.

While the Committee believes that Members of the Legislative Assembly have, on the whole, maintained high standards of honesty and ethics, the present Committee has also come to the conclusion that a code of conduct for all members of the Legislative Assembly should be introduced.

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