Page 3324 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 17 August 2011
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We knew from the initial correspondence that the head of the public service was the chair of the selection committee. So the information we sought related to further information about the composition of the selection committee, the selection criteria used, the understanding of what qualifications were appropriate for a person who is to be the Auditor-General and the appropriate qualifications that the government considered.
Throughout the entire history of this appointment process, I have been concerned about various matters—and they have been recorded—and I just want to go through a few of those matters. One of the issues raised was the actual independence of the office. And when this issue was raised I thought, “That is a very interesting point.” Normal practice outside the public service was not to appoint an external auditor from within your ranks, and that is a question, I think, that has to be answered. Indeed, stemming from this inquiry, I think there will be legislation. I certainly have a few things that I am putting drafting instructions together for about how we make this a smoother process.
There was an issue also about the qualifications. The advert, of course, is public. The advert says you need appropriate qualifications, and part of the discussion was: what were appropriate qualifications? As I have noted, my concern in the minutes is the requirement in the advertisement for appropriate qualifications without stipulating what “appropriate” means in this instance. One could reasonably assume that for an auditor-general these would include qualifications in auditing or financial skills. This is clearly an area that needs to be rectified in legislation. I have concerns about the suitability of the selection criteria.
I had some concerns about the composition of the selection panel. It is normal practice, when you have a selection panel, that you have three people on it and one of those people has some sort of experience or qualifications in the field for which you are seeking a candidate. The three people who were on the selection panel, all senior ACT bureaucrats, to the best of my knowledge, do not have that experience.
If you go back to the 2004 process for the appointment of the previous Auditor-General, the outsider who was on that committee was from the federal Department of Finance, I believe, at the time and had skills. Indeed, that person is today the commonwealth Auditor-General. So he knew, he understood, he had skills, he could ask the relevant questions and form an opinion based on experience. But you did not have that experience on the selection panel. Indeed, you had three people who would all be very good at their jobs, but three people inside the team—
Members interjecting—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Le Couteur): Members, please be quiet.
Members interjecting—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Seselja, Ms Gallagher, please! We need to hear.
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