Page 1576 - Week 05 - Thursday, 7 April 2005
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she was working here for a couple of months in 1999, so she has been in and out of the place for more than five years.
In July 2002 Stephanie commenced a six-month secondment in the Chief Minister’s Department and, in March 2003, joined the committee office as public accounts secretary. Stephanie also worked as the education officer from September last year to January this year.
As deputy chair of the public accounts committee in the Fifth Assembly, and as a member of the committee in this Assembly, I have had the privilege of working very closely with Stephanie. The contribution and assistance she has given the committee at all times has been greatly appreciated.
In the Fifth Assembly Stephanie worked on a large number of reports, including the inquiry into the Rates and Land Tax Amendment Bill 2003, revenue raising issues in the ACT, the General Agreement on Trade in Services—or GATs—with special reference to the ACT report, and of course a variety of Auditor-General’s reports, just to name a few.
Her help with both this and the Fifth Assembly’s public accounts committee has been invaluable, especially given her knowledge of the workings of this place and the ACT government. She has, of course, worked within a federal government department as well, and she has qualifications of a bachelor of economics and an MBA in government. I am quite sure those qualifications have assisted in providing the excellent advice she has at all times given the committee.
Stephanie organised for members of the PAC to attend the Australasian Council of Public Accounts Committees eighth biennial conference, held in Brisbane in early February this year. I know that her assistance and company was greatly appreciated. Stephanie has always been a professional. This was demonstrated again during the recent annual report hearings.
I should put on the record that I feel like I have been in public hearings forever, from what has taken place this year. Part of the reason I have had that feeling is that the public accounts committee has had seven public hearings in the space of the last two months.
Going back to Stephanie, she has not only been a valued work colleague but also a valued friend. I know I will sorely miss her advice and her excellent work in this place. I personally do not think you could find a better secretary for the public accounts committee. I wish her all the best for the future.
War Memorial ceremony
MR PRATT (Brindabella) (6.12): I rise tonight to salute our veterans and war widows and particularly to talk about a group who yesterday attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the war memorial. I also want to salute the bonding that we increasingly see between our older veterans, the widows of others and our youth. The exercise yesterday really showed that interesting tie-in between those two different generations.
It is great to see this resurgence in interest in Anzac. This is something that has been raised here before but it seems to me to be getting stronger. I refer to a piece here in the
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