Page 2708 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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job. If the government had actually seen her as a partner then I think we would not be seeing the same reports year after year after year and the same massive cost blow-outs that have become so characteristic of this government. This government will be characterised by a number of things. One of them is the complete inability to deliver projects on time and on budget.
I do commend the Auditor-General for her work over a number of years. I commend the important role that she plays in our democracy and in our governance. I encourage the government to start to take that role far more seriously than they have in the past.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
At approximately 6 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
Sitting suspended from 5.59 to 7.30 pm.
Proposed expenditure—Part 1.4—Chief Minister’s Directorate—$37,471,000 (net cost of outputs) and $10,364,000 (capital injection), totalling $47,835,000.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (7.31): I would like to speak about a few whole-of-government issues as well as the arts—which, when it was printed, were part of this appropriation.
It is an interesting budget because the government is now under new administrative arrangements. I am very much looking forward to seeing how the new administrative arrangements change how the government works, and in particular how government departmental silos are broken down. I note that changing the names of departments to directorates will not in itself make cultural change within the ACT government. There are some deep-seated issues with bureaucratic silos, and certainly it has been interesting as an MLA to hear one arm of government say one thing and another arm have a totally different take on something.
You can see this in procurement. On one hand, DHCS has been very proud of its work on social procurement and support for the social enterprise hub. On the other hand, Procurement Solutions does not seem to have clear guidelines for how departments are running procurement processes—or, perhaps more to the point, they have the guidelines but they do not ensure that the departments have the expertise, understanding and will to implement the social procurement part, in particular, of those guidelines properly. My colleague Ms Hunter will be speaking more about this tomorrow.
One directorate in particular which has potential for improved implementation of government priorities and outcomes is the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate. Ensuring that planning, transport and environmental portfolios align strategically is a very important step for Canberra.
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