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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Tuesday, 22 June 2004) . . Page.. 2286 ..

domestic animals people?—that I did say, “With notable exception.” If you feel that you fit into that bag, good on you. If you do not feel that you fit into that bag, if the cap fits it is not my problem.

Mr Speaker, I think it is incumbent upon the committee to express its appreciation, as indeed it has done in the minutes, to the committee secretariat for the extraordinary amount of work that it did in assisting the committee. Each of the committee secretaries took their turn and were brilliant. I would like to single out Siobhan Leyne and Jane Carmody for putting the report together. It is very difficult to knit together a committee report when three members are present. When you try to do it with five members and have the occasional visit from a shadow minister, it is very difficult. I applaud them for their efforts.

I express my appreciation to the officials that appeared before the committee. It is never an easy thing to do that, particularly if you turn up, sit there all day and are then not needed and go away. I thank them for their patience and I thank them for their work. Also, I thank them for the briefings that they have given to their ministers. I thank the ministers for their time. The encounter this time was not as acrimonious as it was in previous times, and I think that credit for that is due to the ministers and to the membership of the committee to a degree.

I thank the community organisations that went to the trouble of putting their view forward. I think that it is important to do that. Part of the estimates process is supposed to be about community engagement. I know that it is very difficult to involve the community in any sort of political engagement other than belting the bejesus out of people like ourselves, but I thank them very much, Mr Speaker.

MRS BURKE (12.19): That was a valiant effort by Mr Hargreaves to try to gag me or something; I am not sure. My colleagues have made comments, and will do, about other parts of the estimates committee’s report. I want to focus particularly on one of the sections relevant to me, the Territory as parent report. I was rather surprised to hear Ms MacDonald say that it should not have been included in the estimates process as it did not relate to the estimates. I have to say that that was rather an absurd comment, especially given that the government is seeking to bring amendments to the budget to this Assembly. I find that quite a strange thing to say.

I would bring to the attention of members that the committee did ask why there were no recommendations in the Territory as parent report for action to be taken against departmental officers who held the delegation of territory parent. Much has been said of it going backwards and forwards and I am concerned that there were no recommendations on that as well. I think that the issue of delegation is clearly set out. I am still working my way through the extensive report here on the matters of delegation.

Of course, it does refer to accountability and the integrity of positions. The minister said in her comments that she did not see the commissioner’s role as one of making recommendations around individuals. She went on to say that the commissioner could have made individual findings against people. Mr Speaker, I did suggest at the very beginning that the terms of reference were too narrow. This comment obviously would support that.

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