Page 2941 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 20 September 2006
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It is appropriate that we ensure not only that the responsibilities of managers and senior managers are understood but also that appropriate arrangements are in place; that there are systems of procedures, checks and balances; and that there is a culture that exists that ensures that some of the shortcomings that have been revealed by the Auditor General in the Rhodium report are prevented—to the extent that they can be prevented—and are avoided.
Having said that, it is my intention to ensure that the findings consistent with the recommendations of the Auditor General are disseminated and that all chief executives and heads of agencies are aware of their responsibilities. I have already initiated that process with letters to government-owned corporations in relation to ensuring that they have in place appropriate protocols and policies in relation to the sorts of issues that were being investigated by the Auditor General.
I wrote that letter and sought those assurances prior to the Auditor General completing her investigation. I have begun a process of ensuring—in the first instance in relation to the other territory-owned corporations, which I believe the opposition mentioned—that there are appropriate processes and protocols in place.
Let me assure members that I will insist that the report and its findings are implemented to the extent—in the context of the scoping study and the potential sale of Rhodium—that it is appropriate that they be implemented and that the ACT government service, in all of its guises, is aware of and responds appropriately to the report and its recommendations.
To the extent that the Leader of the Opposition asks whether I can give a guarantee that all officers within the ACT government service or all officers within ACT and territory-owned corporations are not behaving in the way or in some of the ways that have been reported by the Auditor General, of course I cannot give that undertaking. It is not an undertaking that anybody could ever give in any circumstance.
The chairman of the board of Rhodium, in the board’s response to the Auditor General’s report, states unequivocally that the board was misled; that in relation to issues that they were engaged in—conversation or consultation—with senior management, they were misled.
There is an element of risk inherent in any management relationship. At one point nobody—no Chief Minister, Treasurer, Leader of the Opposition, shadow minister or minister—can ever stand up and give an absolute assurance of things simply beyond his or her knowledge and not within his or her capacity to know. At the end of the day, that is a significant risk in relation to all management arrangements or relationships. We trust—each of us does. I, as Chief Minister, trust my chief executives; my chief executives trust their executives.
Mr Smyth: Oh, you are not responsible?
MR STANHOPE: I am responsible. I trust my chief executives, my chief executives trust their executives, and their executives trust their staff. In order to reduce the risks in relation to management streams and relationships, it is appropriate that there be in place
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