Page 4308 - Week 12 - Thursday, 24 October 2019
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As part of their ordinary duties MLAs should be able to routinely communicate with their constituents about their work. This is not electioneering. However, under the current legislative framework it is clear that some routine communication is being classified as electoral expenditure and therefore considered as electioneering.
These issues were identified in the report of the Select Committee on the 2016 ACT Election and Electoral Act. Recommendation 7 called for an update of all rules and regulations governing the use of the communications allowance to ensure that MLAs can adequately carry out their functions, including during an election period.
The bill I am introducing this morning establishes a new communications budget known as the communications allowance for MLAs to be able to communicate with their constituents in their capacity as elected members. I wish to be clear about this: this is being done on a budget-neutral basis and is not about providing additional or more funds to MLAs to communicate with their constituents. The amount for communications will simply be administered in a slightly different way. I will go into this in more detail shortly.
The bill also provides a legal basis for the payment of the new budget and makes clear that its purpose is to assist MLAs to be able to communicate with their constituents. It also makes clear that the budget is not for electioneering purposes and is not subject to annual spending caps or reporting requirements under the Electoral Act.
The rules governing how the communications budget can be spent and its total value will be determined by a continuing resolution of the Assembly passed prior to 1 January 2020. It is the government’s intent to conduct cross-party consultations between now and then to establish a model that, if possible, has the tripartisan support of the whole Assembly. At this stage the intention is for the continuing resolution to be prepared and consultations completed in time for debate on the bill in the November 2019 sitting, subject of course to the views of the Assembly.
That said, the government has certain expectations about the administration and oversight of the new budget to ensure that it meets public expectations for appropriate MLA expenditure and remuneration. Funds for the new budget would be provided to the Office of the Legislative Assembly via a budgetary appropriation. While the scope and administrative aspects will be dealt with under the continuing resolution, it is likely that MLAs would be reimbursed after provision of appropriate receipts or an arrangement where the invoice for expenditure by an MLA is paid by the Office of the Legislative Assembly. This would be a similar process to the former discretionary office allowance.
It is proposed that any unspent money at the end of the financial year would revert to consolidated revenue. This is appropriate as the funds are for routine communication with constituents and not for building up until a certain point in time.
To ensure proper governance and transparency for the new budget the Office of the Legislative Assembly would provide a regular, possibly a quarterly, report to the
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