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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Tuesday, 9 March 2004) . . Page.. 872 ..

procedures, I think the response the Assembly has shown to this bill demonstrates that members do not always insert onerous duties where they are unnecessary.

However, this is not to say that once these bills have been passed the work will be over. The Auditor-General has clearly raised a large number of specific concerns that still need to be addressed by ministerial directions and I note that amendments are being suggested to assist that process.

The development of better directions needs to be prioritised, as does ensuring that they are complied with at a whole-of-government level. There is a perception that agencies can be a little blasé about the preparation of annual reports—and I note that that is just a perception. Work needs to be done to ensure that reports are professional, detailed and transparent and reflect the workings of the department. We need annual reports that provide full, frank and fearless advice to the government, the Assembly and the community so that we can see what is happening in our departments, where we should be prioritising funding and support for future programs, and what problems need to be addressed.

Quite recently—in fact, over the last few of months—we have seen the tabling of a number of committee reports which contain specific recommendations about annual reports. Those recommendations are about making sure that information is clearer and more accessible; about making sure that information is provided and directions are adhered to. I await the government’s response to those committee reports. I hope that we continue to develop guidelines and ministerial directions so that we have annual reports that provide the full, frank and fearless information that we need to be able to do our job properly.

The process of accountability is never over—it requires the eternal vigilance of the government, the Assembly and the community at large. That said, I am happy to support this small step to amending the annual reports legislation.

MS TUCKER (10.53): These bills update the current Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act and amend some of the provisions relating to the presentation to the Assembly of annual reports of government agencies. The most significant change in this legislation is the introduction of a single tabling requirement based on date rather than sitting days. This change follows a recommendation in the Auditor-General’s report, Effectiveness of Annual Reporting, of March 2003.

Annual reports are a communication and accountability mechanism in which the agencies report on the status of their service delivery and extent of compliance with various legislative and government policy requirements. They can also be useful as a discussion on priority issues that a department or agency expects to face in the near future.

The legislation we are talking about today is one part of the requirements for annual reporting. The other is the annual report directions, which are also mentioned in the bill. The annual report directions document provides agencies with more detailed requirements for reporting. Having these two requirements appears to be a good system, so that a lot of the detail about the reporting is not required to be in the act.

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