Page 5711 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 November 2010
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Chapter 4 has already been mentioned by the chair of the committee. It looks at sustainability considerations. It is important. There are a number of recommendations there. It includes everything from the way in which organisations select their goods to the way staff are trained. It is important that we are aware of the opportunities that the government’s purchasing power provides and that we use that for the betterment of the people of the ACT.
Chapter 5, in a way, is my favourite chapter. It is about social procurement. It was interesting that, as we worked through the committee, the original submissions from the government seemed to be vaguely unaware of social procurement. But suddenly, halfway through, as things were being revealed to the committee, the government not only adopted some policies but also was out launching them, attending workshops and making announcements, and then out came the press releases.
So it is nice to see, Mr Speaker, that the Assembly’s committee can prompt the government into acting on something that clearly has benefits for our society and clearly has benefits for those involved in social procurement and the beneficiaries of those processes. There is a lovely paragraph, paragraph 5.20 on page 59, on the announcement of the new commitment. It starts at paragraph 5.19. In fact, let us go back to paragraph 5.18:
During the course of the Committee’s inquiry, the Government announced that it was changing its tender processes to favour organisations that employ people with disabilities and the long term unemployed.
Paragraph 5.19 says:
In announcing the new commitment, the Chief Minister stated:
This ACT Government initiative aims to break down some of the barriers faced by people with disabilities wanting to enter the workforce by making it easier for organisations that employ people with disabilities to win Government contracts.
Paragraph 5.20 then says:
The Committee was interested to explore the detail of this commitment and relevant departmental officials appeared at a public hearing to discuss the announcement …
It does seem that the announcement was sparked by the inquiry. There had been ample opportunity for the government to do this before, but I think they were probably found lacking in that regard. Mr Speaker, recommendation 23 states:
The Committee recommends that ACT Procurement Solutions hold a special information forum on the ACT Government’s new social procurement policy commitment, in particular but not restricted to targeting organisations and groups that fall under the gambit of the ACT Council of Social Service.
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