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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 2 Hansard (21 February) . . Page.. 490 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

Ms Tucker's motion will lead to greater certainty that the Assembly's views will be implemented. Currently, the annual reports directions made under the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 1995 require administrative units to list completed committee reports relating to the agency as an appendix in annual reports. This reporting requirement could be extended to include details of those recommendations agreed by government that the agency is charged with implementing. This would serve as feedback to government that agreed recommendations are being implemented as well as a report back to the Assembly and members.

As I understand it, Ms Tucker has amended part (2) of her original motion so that the proposed reporting applies only to earlier recommendations which were agreed by the current government. That is some task. I think the gist of part (2) is that this applies to earlier recommendations that we in opposition agreed to. I had to read it quite a few times and get the assistance of Ms Tucker to reach that conclusion. It would also-

Ms Tucker: That's not what I'm saying.

Mr Humphries: It's not there now though, is it?

MR WOOD: No, that is as now amended, as I read it.

Ms Tucker: No.

MR WOOD: I have been corrected on this. It would also relate to this new government's responses to reports of the last Assembly to which no reply has been given.

The initial proposal was to report on reports of the Fourth Assembly. As a former member of those committees, I have an interest in being reassured that agreed recommendations have been implemented, and perhaps there is some responsibility on me as a member of those committees, or any member of the committees, to take on some of that work. I understand there are some 180 reports of Assembly committees from the Fourth Assembly. That is a pretty large load. Perhaps quite a few of those were reports of the scrutiny of bills committee.

Prospective application, application from the time this legislation comes into place, permits appropriate coordination arrangements to be set in place. Furthermore, it would not deflect from the focus of annual reports-that is, the year under review. The government will not support the retrospective aspect of the motion expressed in paragraph (2), especially in view of that large backlog of Assembly reports from of the last Assembly.

I have indicated to Ms Tucker that we would give commitments about specific reports in which she had a very considerable interest. But I have to say, after listening to her speech, that I am a little nervous about that, and I just do not know how far back we can go.

Further, I want to check on another aspect that arose in my mind when you were speaking, Ms Tucker, and that is: are we in some measure going back to decisions of the last Assembly, which I suppose we are entitled to do? Mr Stanhope has proposed some

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