Page 915 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 25 July 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR WHALAN: It is under active consideration, Mr Leader of the Opposition. The sorts of things that we will take into account, of course, in the question of reporting are that we cannot ignore the fact that once you put in a provision to report you will find that the registrar will look at it and decide he has to prepare a report - - -
Ms Follett: He or she.
MR WHALAN: Sorry; he or she. Thank you, Chief Minister. It is very late, and it has been a long day. He or she will decide that there will have to be a glossy report, but it all takes time and it all takes money. I think it would be far better to have a firm policy. We would like to consider it as part of our general examination of the annual reporting issue, and this exercise would include examination of the need to complement the existing annual reporting provisions contained in the Audit Act with legislation covering Executive departments and non-corporate Territory authorities. We are appealing to Mr Moore, and if he will consider withdrawing it we will give a firm, unequivocal guarantee that we will support the matter being raised again, once we have reported on the general question of reporting.
MR HUMPHRIES (9.50): Mr Speaker, I am very pleased to see that the Minister for Industry, Employment and Education has this matter under active consideration; that is a good sign. But I have to say that, if in doubt, we should err on the side of providing for full accountability; that the registrar, being the holder of a statutory office, ought to be accountable to people in a public fashion for the way in which he discharges his duties, particularly duties of the kind set out in this Bill, which affect the lives and the livelihoods of farmers and people who run businesses dealing with pests. For those reasons, he ought to be accountable and ought to be publishing an annual report indicating how his activities have affected the lives of those people.
Maybe we will have to come back at some later stage and go through the burdensome process, at some other late night session, of removing this provision because some alternative method of reporting has been arranged, but I will be happy to do that because I believe in the meantime the people of the ACT should have the protection of annual reports.
MR JENSEN (9.51): Mr Speaker, I would just like to pick up one point raised by the Minister for Industry, Employment and Education in relation to the glossy reports and the cost of reporting. I would suggest in cases like this and other cases it is not necessary to have glossy, expensive reports to enable the matter to be raised. In view of the Chief Minister's policy - and I do not wish to be flippant in relation to this - I am sure it will be appropriate for the type of report which is required and which will get the message across to be provided in a non-glossy form and preferably on recycled paper.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .