Page 1891 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2011
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We were also concerned, of course, with Totalcare, which has still not managed to be wound up. We appreciate that there are issues there, such as superannuation, and that it is a lot harder to ensure that those are finalised, but we are concerned about the time taken with Totalcare. We are concerned that the government as a whole look at what it can learn from winding up these organisations and make sure that any wind-ups in future are done much more efficaciously, because we have spent a lot of money on both of those.
We have a whole series of other recommendations, obviously, and I commend those to the Assembly. Another I might mention, because it is, again, an ongoing theme, is recommendation 10 concerning the Commissioner for Public Administration and the need for that to be an independent role rather than just another ACT public servant.
Reading out all the recommendations is possibly not a good use of the Assembly’s time. I will leave my commentary on the report at this time. I believe that other members of the committee may wish to comment on it. I commend the report to the Assembly.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (11.00): I think Ms Le Couteur as chair has covered the report reasonably well. Again, I would like to extend my thanks to the now Dr Cullen and also congratulate her on her academic success. We are very proud of you, Andrea, and we thank you for the support that you give us too as a committee. There are just a couple of other recommendations that I would like to speak to, particularly recommendation 12:
The Committee recommends that the Chief Minister update the ACT Legislative Assembly in six months time on progress with regard to receipt of the federal funding for Constitution Avenue and the Burley Griffin Legacy projects.
As members would know, this is money we have been dudded by the Labor federal government on. I think it is important that we follow it up and, as an Assembly, make sure that the moneys that are owed to the territory through agreements made between the federal and territory government are honoured.
Recommendation 13 looks at another area where, of course, we are still waiting on the federal government to pull their weight. It calls on the Chief Minister to inform the Assembly of his forthcoming representations to the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the minister for finance in relation to the commonwealth government’s contribution to the centenary celebrations. I assume the Treasurer and the Chief Minister, will say, “The federal budget is next week; we all have to wait and see.” But it is important that we get some assistance as is due. After all, we are actually celebrating the establishment of the nation’s capital. You could almost make a case that this should be fully funded by the federal government. But we will get some benefit from it so it is appropriate for the ACT to put in money as well. At this stage we are still in the dark as to what will happen.
Recommendation 13, therefore, affects recommendation 14, which states:
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