Page 758 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 1 May 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
to the Assembly for discussion. In accordance with standing order 79 I have determined that the matter proposed by Mrs Burke be submitted to the Assembly, namely:
Accountability over the use of funds by the ACT government.
MRS BURKE (Molonglo) (4.16): I ask for members’ indulgence under standing order 43. It has been a long day.
Leave granted.
MRS BURKE: Mr Speaker, today the matter of public importance concerns the accountability of the ACT government over the use of funds. One of the most precious principles of a democracy is the way in which the elected government is accountable to the electorate for its actions. This applies particularly to the way in which the elected government deals with the funds that are collected from the electorate, from the community, through taxes and other mechanisms. It is hard to think of anything that tarnishes the stature of a government more than to have issues raised about the way in which public funds are being used or otherwise. Everyone can relate to questions about proper use of funds, by virtue of the fact that we all have dealings with our own funds in our households, in businesses and in other organisations. It is with this brief background that we have this matter of public importance before us today.
I first want to place this matter in some context. The best place to start to establish this context is with the comments made by the then Leader of the Opposition, interestingly Mr Jon Stanhope, in March 2001, in a speech he gave on “a code of good government”. In this speech Mr Stanhope placed considerable emphasis on the importance of governments being accountable. Mr Stanhope set out a number of values that he saw as important in underpinning sound public governance, values that he described as “simple and long held”. Listed amongst these was “accountability”.
Appropriate accountability must be at the core of the way in which governments do their business; that goes without saying. Governments build confidence through the way in which they manage public funds. Governments do not have any money of their own other than what is given to them by the public, so it makes sense that accountability—a high level of accountability—is required and needed. Equally, of course, they can destroy that confidence through having questions raised about approaches to accountability.
Of course, issues relating to accountability may not involve large amounts of funds. Nevertheless, I would like to turn first to the spending by governments on public works projects. Spending on capital works projects comprises a major portion of the ACT government’s expenditure each year. In 2006-07, for example, the budget papers show that $337 million was estimated to be spent on new and ongoing capital works projects. This really brings into question why we should be accountable, why we should see the on-working, out-working of these funds, why we should see reports, why we should see the figures, why we should see what is happening. These projects range from major works, such as the new prison, to myriad minor projects spread across the community.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .