Page 1157 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 28 March 2017
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leave later in the day to table that correspondence, because it is not quite as the minister has described it. I have not directly asked the Auditor-General about the Director-General of Health’s letter. In fact, it was the Auditor-General who initially provided me with advice about the existence of that letter.
I am happy that the minister has tabled the letter today, but I understand that there are attachments which are not included. I will take the minister’s word that there are no written briefings; so part 2 of my motion lapses. But if there are attachments to the letter, I think that the motion should stand. If the minister has problems in providing attachments to the letter to the Assembly for scrutiny, there is a process in the standing orders that will allow for that matter to be dealt with through review. I think that it is incumbent upon the minister to provide the Clerk with a list of documents if she does not want to have them tabled, and the reason why they should not be tabled, which is allowed for in the standing orders.
Even if the answer to part 2 is nil, there are still outstanding documents in relation to part 1 that the Assembly should know about and should have an opportunity to deal with, if that is appropriate. This is another sort of irregular verb: if a member of the opposition seeks to undertake scrutiny, that is politicising something. I am not politicising this. I have been straight on this issue and I have been very clear about my concerns and the opposition’s concerns about the litany of problems in the Health Directorate in relation to data. I believe that this Assembly and all the members—crossbench members, backbench members and opposition members—need to have as much information as possible about what is going on or not going on in the Health Directorate. I think that is the most important thing that we can do. The $1 billion a year that the people of the ACT are paying—plus the money that is coming from the commonwealth—warrants that we have as much information as possible.
It is important that the concerns of the Director-General of Health and the Auditor-General are open for us to see because, if we do not know what the concerns are, we do not know how effectively the terms of reference that the minister has announced today address those concerns. Although the minister has provided some information, she has not provided all the possible information. Therefore the motion to table in accordance with standing order 213A is still important for this Assembly, and I commend the motion to the Assembly.
Amendment agreed to.
Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.
Education—early childhood
Discussion of matter of public importance
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Lee): Madam Speaker has received letters from Ms Cheyne, Ms Cody, Mrs Dunne, Mr Milligan, Ms Orr, Mr Parton, Mr Pettersson, Mr Steel and Mr Wall proposing that matters of public importance be submitted to the Assembly. In accordance with standing order 79, Madam Speaker has determined that the matter proposed by Ms Cody be submitted to the Assembly, namely:
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