Page 4307 - Week 12 - Thursday, 24 October 2019
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the new house is always a lot bigger and the existing trees are removed. And we see this over and over again. We need stronger tree protection legislation to better protect our existing trees and we also need to make room for trees during redevelopment.
I am pleased that the government has issued its discussion paper and I hope to make a submission to it on behalf of the Greens. I am also very, very delighted to see the living infrastructure plan which was announced by my colleague, Minister Rattenbury, and I look forward to action to see the great targets in that, the 30 per cent for canopy and the 30 per cent for permeability, actually being implemented in the ACT. We have done it with greenhouse gasses. If we can do it with greenhouse gasses then we can do it with nice, easy to count things like trees, tree canopies and permeable surfaces. I am glad the government is starting to make progress and I do hope, though, that the progress will speed up between now and the next report, which I understand is due in mid-2020.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Legislative Assembly (Office of the Legislative Assembly) Amendment Bill 2019
Mr Barr, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Social Inclusion and Equality, Minister for Tourism and Special Events and Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment) (10.46): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
I am pleased to introduce the Legislative Assembly (Office of the Legislative Assembly) Amendment Bill 2019, which creates greater transparency in the use and administration of members communications budgets. As all members would be aware, in 2016 the Remuneration Tribunal abolished the MLA communication allowance and rolled an equivalent amount of money into the base salaries of MLAs. At that time the amount was around $15,000. As a result of this decision, MLAs made their own arrangements when undertaking routine communications with their constituents using their own salary.
This transition, however, has created two significant unintended consequences: firstly, the MLA communications budget was never intended to be used for electioneering yet under the current system, there is no clear oversight to ensure that that money, which now forms part of MLAs’ salary, is not being used for this purpose. Secondly, from 1 January 2020 any money MLAs spend on routine communication with their constituents is very likely to fall under the definition of “electoral expenditure” under the Electoral Act and therefore will be subject to election-year spending caps.
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