Page 4355 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 13 October 2009
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Commissioner for Public Administration, dated 9 September 2009.
Land Development Agency, dated 17 September 2009.
Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act, pursuant to section 13—Annual Reports 2008-2009—
ACT Government Procurement Board, dated 23 September 2009.
ACT Public Cemeteries Authority, dated 18 September 2009.
Department of Territory and Municipal Services (2 volumes), dated 10 September 2009.
Cultural Facilities Corporation Act, pursuant to subsection 15(2)—Cultural Facilities Corporation—Quarterly report 2008-2009 (for the fourth quarter 2008-2009: 1 April to 30 June 2009).
Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act, pursuant to section 13—Annual Report 2008-2009—Cultural Facilities Corporation, dated 8 September 2009.
Capital works program—outcome report
Paper and statement by minister
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Treasurer, Minister for Health, Minister for Community Services and Minister for Women) (3.09): For the information of members, I present the following paper:
Capital Works Program—Outcome Report—2008-2009.
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (3:10): It is fascinating to have this report tabled today. I will read it with interest, since we had a report with a remarkably similar title, Capital works 2008-2009 program outcome, tabled on 27 August 2009.
Monitoring the progress of capital works is one important means by which the community can hold the government of the day to account. It is a major area of spending of public funds and it also has a significant effect on the local economy, which still causes me to question why the Stanhope-Gallagher government decided in 2005 to make the quarterly reports on capital works secret. The government then claimed that these reports were too complex for the public, including the opposition, to understand. It is fascinating to note the Canberra Times article at the time which says that Treasury no longer provides regular updates on how much money it has spent on infrastructure because it does not think the information is useful. The article went on to say:
But a Treasury spokesman said last night the reports were neither required by legislation nor useful outside the bureaucracy. The reports were not user-friendly to the public as they were largely comprised of complex spreadsheets. They were determined to be more appropriately used internally within the government.
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