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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Tuesday, 29 June 2004) . . Page.. 2921 ..

I would like to take up your offer of a briefing on this matter, and will contact your office separately to arrange a meeting with you.

I asked of the minister and her staff: have the contracts been posted; are you happy with the way the supplementation fund has been run; and are you aware of whether or not the FMA and the Government Procurement Act have been breached?

In regard to the contracts, we were given assurances—indeed, the secretary of the committee was given assurances—that if you log on to the web you can find them. I rang to be told, yes, you can get on to the web but you cannot access any of this $1½ million expenditure on the web. Apparently you need a password. I note the government’s response to the committee. At paragraph 6.68 the committee said in regard to the workers compensation supplementation fund that despite assurances from the OH&S Commissioner that they are online, the contracts cannot be found on the ACT government contracts register. At paragraph 6.69 the committee stated:

The committee was later advised that the contracts are not available without a specific user log on due to the dates of expiry of the contract.

The committee said that it was concerned about the lack of transparency and recommended that:

• the Government ensure that contracts in relations to the Workers Compensation Supplementation Fund are available publicly;

• all Ministers remind departments and agencies of the need to comply with the Financial Management Act 1996 and the Government Procurement Act 2001; and

• the Government immediately correct any breaches and advise the Assembly.

The government’s response to recommendation 22 stated:

Copies of the earlier contracts are publicly available in hardcopy from ACT WorkCover—

so they are not on the web for the public—

and copies are also being provided to the Assembly secretariat for the information of members. A procurement planning process has commenced to establish new contracts for the provision of legal services. Such contracts once established will be notified on the central contracts register.

The curious thing here is that when I asked the minister specifically was she aware of breaches, she said there were no breaches, she was not aware of any breaches. I said:

Are you satisfied that what has been done is in keeping with the law, with the Financial Management Act and the Government Procurement Act?

The minister responded:

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