Page 1313 - Week 04 - Thursday, 7 April 2016
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Then they went about compounding that by lying about the lying. It is just a fact that this Liberal opposition is the only party across Australia to stay silent on the shameful reversal of health and education funding commitments. It goes to the opposition’s own ethics and the courage of its members to stand up to their federal puppet masters.
In contrast, Madam Deputy Speaker, every member of my government and of the parliamentary Labor Party is committed to serving the people of Canberra and delivering strong, transparent and ethical government. We have put in place a series of measures to strengthen our governance and decision-making framework, from improving community consultation and communication channels to being open and accountable about government decisions.
Just earlier today Mr Smyth referred on a couple of occasions to finding out what was discussed in cabinet, of course, through our public release of cabinet summaries only two weeks after deliberations. So he obviously finds our openness and accountability useful in doing his job in opposition.
It is fundamentally important to be open and accountable in the public sphere, not just in the executive and here in the Assembly but across the ACT public service as well. When the Assembly adopted the Latimer House principles across the three branches of government, it committed to a number of principles, including entrenchment of good governance based on the highest standards of honesty, probity and accountability.
Adoption of these principles also includes a commitment to develop, adopt and periodically review appropriate guidelines for ethical government, such as the code of conduct for members of the Legislative Assembly, which provides a clear statement of the values that will guide our behaviour and remind us of our obligations as MLAs and also provide the community with a better understanding of what they can expect of us and how we commit to conducting ourselves; the appointment of the Commissioner for Standards, who ensures independence in the investigation of complaints made against MLAs by members of the public, members of the ACT public service and MLAs; implementation of a lobbyist register and supporting code of conduct during this Assembly; the appointment of an Ethics and Integrity Adviser; and reforms to the public interest disclosure legislation, which provides stronger protection for whistleblowers and initiates a change in culture by encouraging reporting of corruption and serious wrongdoing.
As I stated yesterday, in January of this year we extended the code of conduct to members’ staff, both ministerial and non-executive staff. Further initiatives are now in place, including guidelines for how MLAs use their entitlements in alignment with community expectations for the use of public funds. These integrity initiatives are at the foundation of an ethical government and complement a range of activities underway to build a strong culture and behaviours founded on integrity and ethical behaviour across the ACT public service.
This cultural and structural change is being driven by our Head of Service. It means that the ACT is leading the way on ethical, merit-based decision-making and
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