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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (4 November) . . Page.. 3497 ..
MRS CARNELL (continuing):
In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I believe it is important to point out that the Bill addresses a weakness in the legislation and, by doing so, protects the Territory's financial situation. The Bill proposes no additional regulatory or financial burden on any of the ACT's 1,800 or so payroll tax payers who have been correctly complying with their payroll tax obligations in line with the Government's announced policy.
Debate (on motion by Mr Berry) adjourned.
Debate resumed from 23 September 1997, on motion by Mr Stefaniak:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MS McRAE (10.48): The Opposition welcomes this Bill. It has been in the pipeline for a long time and is nothing untoward in the pattern of what is happening in the Assembly. It is very much a mark of our maturity as a community that progressively all the powers that are normally given to the States are being given to us and we are being treated in the same way as any State in Australia is. In fact, I think the University of Canberra is one of the last universities to come back under the aegis of the State level of government.
This is a time of major change in the tertiary education sector. Whilst this Bill moves the University of Canberra into ACT control, it does not instantly solve, nor should it be misinterpreted as a Bill that allows us to solve, any of the quite serious problems being caused in the tertiary sector by Federal Government policy rather than State policy. But it does give us a far greater opportunity to enter into dialogue and to enter far more closely into the day-to-day running of the University of Canberra and to build on the initiatives and changes that have to happen.
The ACT has for a long time had excellent service from the University of Canberra, or the CCAE as it was known before that. The CCAE and UCAN have both excelled at drawing in students from all over the world but have never diminished their services to the community or to their Australian-born students whilst doing that. We have in the ACT a university that we can be well proud of. This provision gives us a far better and more formal process by which the Assembly, and therefore the people of Canberra, can scrutinise the activity of the university. Ten of the members of the board of management can have a direct say and a direct involvement in the management of the university. In fact, the Bill streamlines the relationship with both the Assembly and the people of Canberra so that the very effective service that this university has long provided in the ACT can be made even better.
I gather that Mr Moore has found a provision which may present a little difficulty. We will debate that when we get to the detail stage; but for the moment, at the in-principle stage, the Opposition supports this Bill.
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