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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (2 December) . . Page.. 4368 ..

MR SPEAKER: Which clause are you discussing, Mr Berry?

MR BERRY: A, B and C.

MR SPEAKER: You cannot. We do not have a cognate debate. We have just divided the question on the proposed new clauses.

Mr Moore: We are on 8B.

MR BERRY: We are on to 8B. I think that is a handy one. There was a scurry of activity and Mrs Carnell said, "This is the important one", pointing and gesticulating. Which is the important one - 8A, 8B or 8C? I would like to hear the arguments in respect of which one of these was so important that they really turned their minds to the issue and found that they had to recommit the vote. We have fixed up 8A. That has got the tick from the Assembly. I say again in relation to 8B that it is a curious approach where departmental heads will be able to anticipate future appropriations or supply past the end of the financial year. Nobody else in Australia does it, as far as I can make out.

Mrs Carnell: Did you ask?

MR BERRY: Yes, I did. The best reason that could be given is that some departmental officer might be offered a discount on a bill and would therefore be able to grab the discount and use it for other great and meaningful purposes.

Mrs Carnell: It is 3 per cent for eight working days of financial operations. It is a week.

MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell says, "What is the point?". That is the point I make. What is the point? It seems to me that there are no decent reasons why this clause should be carried. It is a standard which ought not to be set without a better explanation. There has not been one. An explanation that somebody might get a discount for a bill that is due after the end of the financial year if he pays it early, in my view, is not good enough to set this standard. If people think it is good enough, they have a funny view about how governments should operate.

Mr Osborne said that this is not a business. I agree with him. It is a government and it is an elected Assembly which make decisions in relation to this matter. This might be the way that business operates. For example, a local milk bar might anticipate the number of milkshakes it is going to sell after the end of the financial year, but that is not the way that governments do business. This is quite a bit more serious than that. I have spoken to officers and I have to say that they have been most unconvincing in their support for this particular amendment. I am not sure whether I am arguing about the important amendment or not, but I intend to treat both 8B and 8C as important. I am not sure whether all three are important to Mrs Carnell or just one of them. If it is only one, I have not yet worked out which one it is. Somebody will get up and tell us shortly, I hope.

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