Page 2927 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 August 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Legal Aid Commission (ACT)—schedule 1, part 1.16.
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (8.03): I will speak briefly to this line item. Obviously this is an important area of government service and I understand that it has been under funding pressure. This is an area where I think we, on both sides of the chamber, want to see sufficient resources to make sure that those who are most disadvantaged in our community can get access to the legal advice and support that they need.
I do note that Mr Stanhope was appointed president of the Legal Aid Commission during this year or at the end of last year. I think his is an appropriate appointment. I recognise that Mr Stanhope has a very strong legal background. He clearly has an understanding of government and there is no doubt that he has, throughout his career, made a point of standing up for the rights of the vulnerable. There is much I disagree with Mr Stanhope on but these sometimes can be controversial appointments given that he was a former Chief Minister and an adversary of mine. Sometimes these are the appropriate appointments and I support Mr Stanhope’s continuing role as president of the Legal Aid Commission.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Public Trustee for the ACT—schedule 1, part 1.17.
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (8.05): Again I will be brief. The Public Trustee does important work. They have had some issues over the last few years but from following these issues up in estimates it certainly appears that the government are behind the Public Trustee. I hope that that is the case. We will be monitoring their progress with interest.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Superannuation Provision Account—schedule 1, part 1.18.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (8.06): The superannuation provision account is very important to the ACT budget notwithstanding that it provides the funds for the superannuation of public servants. It is certainly a big vehicle for investment of the funds that are held therein.
We had an interesting discussion on 15 June. We looked at the responsible investment framework. There was some discussion about fossil fuel investment in light of the conversation we had on the first day of hearings with the Conservation Council of the ACT. We discussed whether we would meet the 2030 target for the superannuation provision and we found out that we not only had triennial reviews but we had annual reviews annually, which was a funny thing to say. There was a bit of banter, if people have not heard it or read the transcript, where Mr McAuliffe, an excellent public servant, revealed that yes we had a triennial review but we had annual reviews every other year. We had just finished that triennial review and they ran us through some of that detail.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video