Page 3910 - Week 12 - Thursday, 20 October 2005
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Against such a background, it is often impossible to determine if a particular set of intergovernmental negotiations are captured by the act until the process is so far advanced that consultation with the Assembly loses its value. Whilst successive governments have sought to implement both the letter and spirit of the act, the dynamics of intergovernmental processes have limited the effectiveness of the legislation. It is against this background that the government has decided to repeal the act and replace it with non-legislative consultative measures to enhance the transparency of intergovernmental negotiations.
The new measures not only live up to the objective of the act; they will surpass them. In particular, the government’s measures will apply to all intergovernmental agreements, made with the commonwealth and/or another state or territory, signed by a minister. This approach will catch a wider range of agreements than the act has done, but without the uncertainty and definitional problems that attended the operation of the act.
There are three limbs to the government’s new intergovernmental consultative measures. Firstly, my department will compile and maintain a list of current negotiations towards intergovernmental agreements that it is anticipated ministers will sign. This list will be updated and tabled in the Assembly every six months. This will provide members with a regular and comprehensive overview of intergovernmental negotiations, a considerable improvement on the present intermittent notification of individual notifications and agreements. The first list will be tabled shortly after the passage of this bill.
Secondly, ministers will table in the Assembly the full text of any intergovernmental agreement as soon as practicable after it has been signed. Finally, the department will maintain a publicly available register of new intergovernmental agreements to which the ACT is a party. This register, including the full text of agreements, will be available on the department’s web site.
Of course, it is possible that on rare occasions a government may become party to intergovernmental negotiations or agreements that, by their nature, are confidential, and releasing details would be against the public interest. Agreements pertaining to counter-terrorism or security may fall into this category. In such rare cases where disclosure is against the public interest the government may, as appropriate, consider providing appropriate briefings to the Leader of the Opposition and other members of the Assembly.
The measures I have outlined today will allow interested members of the Assembly to keep abreast of the intergovernmental matters to which the ACT may commit. Members will then have every opportunity to raise matters of interest or concern with the government, or else pursue these through appropriate mechanisms, for example, Assembly committee proceedings. Furthermore, for the first time, members of the public will be provided with easier access to information regarding the details and commitments contained in the agreements to which the ACT is party.
These measures represent a major enhancement of the openness of the ACT’s intergovernmental relations and are a concrete demonstration of the government’s commitment to accountability and transparency. This is a further step in implementing the code of good government that I first enunciated in 2001.
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