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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (27 November) . . Page.. 4811 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

Ms Tucker makes a lot of noise about accountability. She says this a lot from the position of never having to be accountable for these decisions herself. As long as we draw breath, the Greens will not have a minister in an ACT government. She can now say, "This accountability thing is a bit suss."But she will never be held to account for that, apart from within the electorate. She will never be held to account in this place the way the government and the opposition are constantly held to account. I think there is-I balk at using the word-hypocrisy, but I wanted to say that in a systemic sense. I am not directing it at Ms Tucker personally. I think the argument smacks of it.

A four-year term does allow business confidence and business predictability, which is important in this town. We all recognise the need for some sort of significant economic direction. The Treasurer's white paper concept has been embraced particularly well by business. If we allow time for all these developments to settle down-and four-year terms will do just that-then we will have, as we have heard from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the pro-development lobby, much greater confidence and certainty, and the business community will be better off.

We also know that the retail trade goes into a catatonic state for a number of months prior to an election. I believe small shopkeepers suffer that more heavily than the larger retailers do. If we can avoid that, it will be a spin-off benefit. I do not suggest it is a big one, but it will be a spin-off benefit to them.

I have not spoken today about the role of members in committee work, but I have spoken about it on other occasions. One of the difficulties people have when they are new members here is coming to grips with the subject matter of their committee and coming to grips with the way in which business is conducted. This being my second term, I came in with a certain degree of experience, but even then I was still learning.

I can confirm from my observations the growth in ability and confidence of the newer members of the committees on which I serve, which has been demonstrated over the last couple of years in the way they have conducted themselves. Gone are the days of not knowing what to do. Gone are the days of wondering whether we are going to be able to absorb all the material or not. Together we have a more frequent joining of the minds and conclusions. The committee work itself will be enhanced by leaving committees in situ for a period longer than three years.

We say, "You should not take into account the three-year cycle because, in the third year, we are worrying about getting re-elected."But it is a fact of life. People who do their own polling in their electorates in election years and realise that they are in strife will then want to have some flurry of activity to make sure they are re-elected. The first thing to go is the committee work.

If we leave it for an extra year we can avoid that. Furthermore, that extra year enables the committee to hold the government of the day accountable for the promises it made. That is the bit Ms Tucker has forgotten to mention. The fact is that the committee can hold the government accountable more readily if they have time to check things. Too many times we have seen committee reports gather dust because there has been a change of government, or because the term has not been long enough.

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