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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Tuesday, 29 June 2004) . . Page.. 2922 ..

As far as I am aware, yes, that is the case.

I went on to ask about the different functions and Ms Gallagher said:

Yes, they do. No, I’ll stand by that answer.

I said:

You’ll stand by that answer. So it’s not a breach therefore of the Financial Management Act, section 31 (2) (f), which relates to adequate control being maintained over the incurring of liabilities by the department. You’re not in breach of the Financial Management Act.

Ms Gallagher said:

I’m certainly not aware that I am, that there is a breach of the Financial Management Act along the lines of what you are alleging, no.

So clearly the minister does not believe that there is a breach of the act, the minister is happy with the way things are going, and yet yesterday we had confirmation that the Auditor-General will investigate further.

The terms of reference of the proposed audit are:

Whether administration of the Fund has been in accordance with sub-sections 54 (1) and 54 (3) of the Financial Management Act 1996.

Whether the administration of the Fund is consistent with the Workers Compensation Supplementation Fund Act 1980 …

Whether the processes for selection of providers of legal services and other services were according to the Procurement Guidelines established under the Government Procurement Act 2001 …

Whether the provisions of sections 27 to 30 of the Government Procurement Act 2001 (keeping of a register of notifiable contracts, and putting details on a web-site) were adhered to.

So what we now see, contrary to what the minister has said, is quite a comprehensive investigation into the work of the workers compensation supplementation fund. Obviously, the Auditor-General has some concerns and I am sure she will keep us updated, through you, Mr Speaker, of the outcome of her inquiry.

This government has typically tried to spread the blame by saying, “Oh, it happened under you guys. It happened before we came to office.” For the interest of members, the expenditure in 2001-02, which is the last year of the Liberal government, is about $51,000. In the six months from July to December 2001, $42,728 was spent. So three months of that would have been under the previous government, three months or two months under the new government, and then $8,000 was spent in the first half of 2002. So none of that would have been notifiable under the government procurement

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