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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Tuesday, 9 March 2004) . . Page.. 876 ..

dates with a single date by which reports must be provided to members, the following are some other features.

The Chief Minister may declare a date before the tabling date by which reports must be presented to ministers. This means the Chief Minister can declare a presentation date if this is considered necessary to manage the completion of the clause. However, if such a date is declared, it would not need to be as early as the 8 September date currently set in the act.

While the bill reflects the position recommended by the audit report—that is, that reports must be provided within three months of the end of the reporting period—there is a capacity for the Chief Minister to declare a date for tabling in advance of that time. This is provided as an additional management option if thought necessary.

A mechanism is provided for providing reports when the Assembly does not sit during the last week of the three-month period following the reporting period. This means there is a clear process during election years where there are no sittings in October.

The bill resolves an ambiguity about whether the annual reporting legislation applies to annual reports of the Auditor-General. The Auditor-General Act refers to the possibility that reports could be provided under the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act but also states that the Auditor-General cannot be directed by the executive. The bill resolves this ambiguity, but with appropriate processes reflecting independence of the office of the Auditor-General. For example, the Auditor-General must comply with the annual report directions other than where she considers this would prejudice the independence of the office.

The bill also embeds human rights reporting identified in the Human Rights Act. These provisions will operate on the commencement of the Human Rights Act.

More generally, the bill redrafts other provisions in the existing act in a way that retains the impact of the current act but in a more accessible style.

Some other minor changes are made. For example, the 1995 act provides for ministerial directions that set the form and content of annual reports. These have been called annual report directions since implementation of the 1995 act. The bill uses this term directly in clause 8.

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts is still considering the Auditor-General’s report on the effectiveness of annual reporting. However, those recommendations that the government agreed to already have largely been implemented in last year’s annual report directions or in this bill.

There were some legislative changes suggested by the audit that the government did not support. These issues are perhaps better left to another debate when the standing committee completes its report on the audit. Of the 38 audit suggestions, 27 were agreed or agreed in principle. One of the considerations in responding to many of the audit suggestions was how to build better practice while still maintaining the timeliness of reporting in the ACT.

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