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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Thursday, 26 August 2004) . . Page.. 4316 ..

MS DUNDAS: I move:

That the report be authorised for publication.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MS DUNDAS: I move:

That the report be noted.

Again, just briefly, for the information of members, the administration and procedure committee has for some time been looking at our standing orders. We have received a few comments and suggestions about what needs to happen to make our standing orders more workable. The committee has not made any decisions either way on any of these submissions, but we have provided a discussion paper for this Assembly—and, we hope, for the next Assembly—as a starting point for a comprehensive review and possible changes to the standing orders. It should be pointed out, however, that by putting this document forward we are just noting that these standing orders are worthy of discussion. We are not endorsing or recommending any of the changes; we are simply putting forward changes for discussion by members of both this Assembly and the next.

This discussion paper also addresses the issue of late night sittings, which was raised in the Assembly last week. As members know, on Wednesday 18 August the Assembly passed a resolution calling on the administration and procedure committee to inquire into this issue. It should be noted that this paper discusses an earlier start time of 10 am for the Assembly, as well as a later formal adjournment time of 6.30 pm. If these measures are adopted, the effect could be a reduction of the need for late night sittings to consider the Assembly’s business. The committee believes it has undertaken its duties in relation to this particular motion of the Assembly. We hope this discussion paper will inform debate in the Sixth Assembly as to where we need to go in streamlining our standing orders.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Public Accounts—Standing Committee

Statement by chair

MR SMYTH (Leader of the Opposition): Pursuant to standing order 246A, I wish to make a statement on behalf of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts relating to inquiries about certain Auditor-General’s reports currently before the committee. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts has resolved not to provide further comment in relation to the following Auditor-General’s reports:

• Auditor-General’s Report No 5 of 2003: Lease of FAI House;

• Auditor-General’s Report No 6 of 2003: Allegations of Financial Mismanagement—University of Canberra Union;

• Auditor-General’s Report No 7 of 2003: Compliance Performance Audit—Recruitment Processes;

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