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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 01 Hansard (Tuesday, 10 February 2004) . . Page.. 32 ..

occasions the chief executive officer, who appeared before the committee without the chair, deferred to the minister.

If those commissions are independent and they have been established to perform a statutory function, the chair of the board should be telling the committee, the Assembly and people in the ACT what the commission does without referring any issues to the appropriate minister. Recommendation 12 states that, in future, when independent commissions appear before Assembly committees, both the chair and chief executive should be in attendance. It is quite appropriate for the chief executive to defer to the chair of his or her committee. However, we are not sure whether it is appropriate for the chief executive to defer to the minister. If we, as a Legislative Assembly, have given an independent commission a role or a function and we have made that commission independent of and responsible to government and to the Assembly, it is curious that chief executives who appear on their own often defer to the government of the day.

Recommendation 13, which is somewhat topical, recommends the establishment of a water authority—an important issue if we are to manage our water resources. I suspect that that authority will be responsible not just for the ACT but also for the south-eastern region as our catchments do not stop at the border. We require some sort of water authority to manage water resources in the ACT and the region. ActewAGL is charged with delivering those resources, but should it also be seen as a watchdog, or should there be some separation of powers?

Recommendation 14 refers to the qualified audits that ActewAGL again received from the Auditor-General this year. I am sure all members appreciate that this is an argument about standards, but I think we need to work with the Auditor-General to resolve these issues. I am sure that the Treasurer, in the process of doing that, will respect the role of ActewAGL directors. They have to account to other parts of the law and they should not give away their responsibilities. We must ensure that we work to some sort of resolution so that ActewAGL does not get the hat trick in relation to this year’s annual reports.

I congratulate the Assembly secretariat on the work that it has done in the operation of this building. I call on the secretariat to continue that good work and to be a leading example of best practice in a publicly funded and operated building. It has achieved energy efficiency as well as instigating programs for continuous improvement. We talk about these issues, pass laws about them, campaign about them and conduct committee inquiries. This Assembly could be seen as an example for the people of the ACT. The plaques on the walls of this building show that we have won awards for its refurbishment. However, we must continually improve energy efficiency and set an example for the public and private sectors.

Recommendation 16 refers to the Stadiums Authority. I sound a warning note that the Stadiums Authority should follow appropriate processes in relation to its operation. We require clarification as to whether or not the Government Procurement Act applies to the Stadiums Authority. I ask the Treasurer to provide information in relation to that issue. The final recommendation in the committee’s report refers to WorkCover and to the work that it does. The government said that it would provide Assembly members with an assessment of the level of need in WorkCover. I ask the government to broaden that assessment and to include an analysis of the effectiveness of the current education programs that are conducted by WorkCover, to establish what inspection programs are

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