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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 7 Hansard (18 October) . . Page.. 1812 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

The second issue raised was the net capital losses on investments during 1993-94, which amounted to $10.5m. Mr Speaker, these losses are in relation to the investment of funds held in the Superannuation Provision Trust Account and are in large part unrealised at this time and represent a decline in the value of investments held. I direct members' attention to the Government's response on this issue.

The third issue is the need for strategies to address the funding needs of the Office of the Public Trustee. The Government reviewed the funding levels of the Office of the Public Trustee in the 1995-96 budget context. This was undertaken as part of an annual review process and also in light of the recommendations contained in the Auditor-General's report. In view of the significant improvement in self-generated revenue from business operations of the office, the Government did not see the need at this time to increase funding to the office but will keep the matter under review. The fourth issue that was raised by the PAC is that the Office of Rental Bonds does not have an adequate trust ledger. Mr Speaker, I am pleased to advise members that the Office of Rental Bonds now has the ability to produce a full trust ledger from its new computer system.

The next issue raised by the committee was that the Auditor-General has no involvement in the financial audits of land development joint ventures in which the then Department of the Environment, Land and Planning is participating. The joint ventures are audited by private auditors, which is consistent with the long-established arrangement of using private sector services and expertise wherever possible in joint venture developments. Although the Auditor-General does not audit the financial statements of each joint venture, he was required to verify the accuracy of the joint venture information included in the former Department of the Environment, Land and Planning's financial statements. This information was verified without qualification. The Auditor-General has been advised that he has access to the records of the joint ventures at any time and, indeed, is currently conducting performance audits of two joint ventures. The committee was also concerned that the Canberra Theatre did not match revenue to programming costs and operating commitments in 1994-95. Mr Speaker, these matters have been fully explained in the Canberra Theatre's financial statements for 1993-94, and I direct members to the Government's response on this issue.

The committee also raised the issue that costs for areas directly under the control of ACTEW, such as "operations and services" and "corporate and administration", have significantly increased over the past three years. Mr Speaker, ACTEW's "operations and services" expenditure has, in fact, decreased in real terms from 1991-92 to 1993-94. In the past three years the only increase in "operations and services" expenditure occurred in 1993-94, largely due to cyclical repairs of major pipelines and sewerage filters. These were necessary costs incurred in order to maintain the level of service currently enjoyed by the ACT community. Increases in "corporate and administration" expenses over the past three years have occurred partly as a result of changes in accounting methods, partly through a major system of business development activity intended to improve the long-term efficiency of ACTEW's business, and partly as a result of increased promotional activity in respect of, for example, the ACT's water futures strategy.

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