Page 1481 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 July 2020
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The recommendations are, by and large, very sensible ones, some of which I think that the government could implement very quickly. Again, I commend the report to the Assembly.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (11.26): Just very briefly, I think that it is worth noting the work of the COVID-19 response committee and the unique way in which it has worked and also the unique way in which it is presenting a rolling series of interim reports. It is worth noting that in the time since the committee was brought into existence it has physically been in the same place just one, when we did a field trip to the surge facility on Garran oval. For the rest of that time all the transactions of the committee have been done electronically, and it has been extraordinarily successful. It is easier, dare I say it, to run a committee hearing, especially with a large number of people, with Zoom rather than Webex, which does tend to fall over and the sound quality does tend to diminish.
I note, with some irony, that the Chief Minister in particular was quite punctilious and insistent that we use Webex, because anything else was a cyber risk for the ACT. I thought it was quite ironic to see the Auditor-General’s report the other day making comment on the extent to which the ACT was cyber prepared and also the comments from the Chief Minister which actually said that we have so little of interest in the ACT that no-one would bother to hack us. But at the same time the Chief Minister did insist on only Webex being used where government officials and ministers were concerned. I think that, on those days, not so much the content but the sound and the presentation are much more difficult for people to access and the sound quality does deteriorate very quickly—just saying, Madam Speaker.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (11.28): I echo the comments of all my colleagues on the committee. I think it has been a great committee and I am particularly pleased that Ms Cheyne commented that many of the recommendations could easily be implemented, because my amendments to the RTA Act this afternoon will in fact, if passed, implement some of those recommendations. I am looking forward to support from the Assembly for this and for a lot more than that.
There is a lot of substantive information. In particular, I draw members’ broader attention to the Legal Aid submission, which was a really useful set of recommendations from people who clearly know both the situation with problems in housing and the legal ways in which they can be addressed.
Of course, it is not just that. One of the wonderful things about being on the committee is that we have gone through the whole gamut of things that are happening in Canberra. I think it is playing a very valuable role and I trust that people will support its recommendations this afternoon.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Executive business—precedence
Ordered that executive business be called on.
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