Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 5 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1784 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People in the ACT report. I now seek leave to move a motion to authorise publication of that report.

Leave granted.

MR WOOD: I move:

That the Discrimination and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People in the ACT-Government Report-be authorised for publication.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Financial Management Amendment Bill 2003

Debate resumed from 6 May 2003, on motion by Mr Quinlan:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

Debate (on motion by Mr Stefaniak ) adjourned to a later hour.

Government Procurement Amendment Bill 2003

Debate resumed from 3 April 2003, on motion by Mr Quinlan:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

MR SMYTH (Leader of the Opposition) (8.22): Mr Speaker, in principle, this bill is a good instance of public policy. It consolidates a number of like matters in a single piece of legislation and it clarifies some matters that have been questioned by both the Assembly and the Auditor-General.

The intention of the legislation included in this package is to provide information to the public on relevant government contracts, to protect any information that satisfies the requirements of being considered to be confidential, to ensure that government entities are timely in paying for goods and services that have been purchased, and to ensure that the Auditor-General is provided with appropriate information on government contracts to enable necessary monitoring and reporting on those contracts.

Mr Speaker, much of the legislation included in this package is of relatively recent origin, except for the debts act, which dates from 1994. Consequently, various issues have arisen as experience has been gained with these acts and it is timely to review those issues and suggest improvements, as the government has done. Nevertheless, despite the matters that have been incorporated in this amendment bill, there still remain a number of matters of concern that need to be mentioned and, at an appropriate point, action will need to be taken on suggested remedies for these matters.

The opposition will be supporting this bill this evening, probably because it is a good starting point, but we expect that further work will be done in the future. Mr Speaker, probably the best starting point is a relatively recent report from the Auditor-General, Report No 2 of 2002, on the Public Access to Government Contracts Act. The

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .