Page 2622 - Week 08 - Thursday, 14 August 2014
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MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, you will please refer to the member by his title, or at least “Mr Corbell”.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (4.43): I note the continued churlishness of members of the opposition, but the Leader of the Opposition simply fails in his duty, which is not only to highlight deficiencies on the part of the government but also to recognise where the government is acting and to address problems. That is the fundamental point he fails to grasp, because his is an opposition without an alternative plan or program. Where was their policy on justice at the last election? I do not think there was one, actually. I do not even think they released a justice policy at the last election.
It is quite extraordinary for an opposition to go to the people and seek a mandate for government and not have a justice policy. But I cannot recall seeing one. There might have been a law and order policy, but there certainly was not a justice policy. For a shadow attorney who claims to have such a comprehensive and great interest in issues around justice matters, including legal aid matters, perhaps he should start by standing up for community legal centres and legal aid services, and criticising and taking it to his federal counterparts when they arbitrarily cut funding for legal services that help some of the most disadvantaged in our community.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Public Trustee for the ACT—
Schedule 1, Part 1.15—$47,615 (net cost of outputs), totalling $47,615.
Schedule 1A, Part 1.18—$1,190,385 (net cost of outputs), totalling $1,190,385.
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (4.45): I will make a few brief comments about the Public Trustee for the ACT. The bottom line is that the Public Trustee is one of the territory’s quiet achievers—unlike the minister who, no doubt, will take all the credit for everything that the Public Trustee has ever done. Its government funding for 2014-15 amounts to only about 20 per cent of its total revenue. A significant proportion of the government funding represents the operations of the official visitor scheme, transferred to the Public Trustee in 2013-14 and now operated under its auspices.
On top of that, the Public Trustee pays to the government a dividend of 50 per cent of its profits. I have no doubt Minister Corbell, the Attorney-General, will take all the plaudits for taking 50 per cent of its profit, although, no doubt, Minister Barr is disappointed it is only 50 per cent. This, of course, is to ensure the Public Trustee does not have a competitive advantage over the private sector trustee companies operating in Canberra.
All of this makes the Public Trustee financially independent to a large extent, providing a valuable service to the community in the way of wills and estate planning management, care and management of trust funds well in excess of $100 million, acting as attorney in enduring powers of attorney, and a range of other community services, including on-the-ground promotional and educational activities at community events.
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