Page 1372 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 6 May 2015
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commonplace at various levels of government. In the UK the national government is moving in this direction, and of course councils are too.
One such council, which is one of the leaders, is the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, which publishes numerous documents about local authority spending. Several years ago that council became the first council in Britain to publish all payments to suppliers over £500. Now the threshold is even lower. One such data publication is their March 2015 declaration where the charge to a specific cost centre is greater than or equal to £100. Almost 4,000 payments are declared in that list alone.
In fact, according to the UK national government code, there are requirements for councils to publish data regularly in open and machine readable formats, including expenditure of £500 or more. I am glad that the ACT Legislative Assembly will be leading other states and territories in Australia in this important aspect of reform.
I am pleased to accept the Chief Minister’s interest in my bill. I am pleased that Mr Barr wants taxpayers to be able to see how the government is spending their money. Next time, rather than copy and paste my bill, he is welcome to contact my office and seek a conversation on our willingness to accept amendments. This is how things should work here. However, I am thankful that the government seems to be backing my bill today.
In conclusion, I thank members for their support. I look forward and hope all members will indeed support this bill not just today but as the publishing of data occurs. And I believe this will truly represent a progressive move for the Assembly.
Title agreed to.
Bill, as amended, agreed to.
Government Procurement (Notifiable Invoices) Amendment Bill 2015
Ruling by Speaker
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Dr Bourke): Standing order 136 states:
Same question may be disallowed
136. The Speaker may disallow any motion or amendment which is the same in substance as any question, which, during that calendar year, has been resolved in the affirmative or negative, unless the order, resolution or vote on such question or amendment has been rescinded.
Today the Assembly debated and passed Mr Coe’s Government Procurement (Transparency in Spending) Amendment Bill 2014. As that bill appears similar to Mr Barr’s Government Procurement (Notifiable Invoices) Amendment Bill 2015, Madam Speaker needed to consider whether she should exercise the discretion given to her under standing order 136 and disallow the motion which has been moved to agree to the bill in principle.
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