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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 8 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 3110 ..
5. The Government has policies in place to prevent conflict of interest issues in Territory authorities. For example, the enabling legislation of Territory authorities contain comprehensive provisions on dealing with conflict of interest issues. These provisions cover a range of matters including:
Requiring a board member to disclose any personal or pecuniary interest in a matter being considered by the board;
Any disclosure to be minuted; and
When appropriate, the board to give approval for the member to be present at the meeting when the particular matter is being discussed and take part in the decision making process of the board.
The Government regularly reviews all issues associated with corporate governance to ensure consistency with current practices.
6. Appointments to boards are merit based and take into consideration the skills and experience requirements of each board. Occasionally, the same person may be appointed to several boards. However, disclosure provisions in the enabling legislation of Territory authorities are intended to ensure conflicts of interest issues are managed appropriately, generally conflicting commercial interests are rare.
7. As stated in the answer to question 5 above, the enabling legislation of Territory authorities include provisions to address conflict of interest issues. The Government is also undertaking a review of the corporate governance practices in a range of Territory authorities with a view to implementing a consistent approach.
Business surveys
(Question No 808)
Mr Smyth asked the Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism, upon notice, on 26 June 2003:
In relation to small business:
(1) What surveys, if any, have been undertaken by your Government of (a) homeï·based business and (b) small business;
(2) Have any such reports been evaluated and released, if so where may copies be obtained;
(3) Has the Government received any complaints from small businesses or homeï·based business about the lack of assistance from Government, if so, what have you done to allay such concerns;
(4) What is the Government doing to improve access by (a) home-based and (b) small business to ACT business development schemes.
Mr Stanhope
: The answer to the member's question is as follows:In relation to small business:
(1) Two (2) surveys have been recently undertaken by the Government. They were:
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