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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (2 July) . . Page.. 2115 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

Quite clearly, Mr Speaker, what the Clerk is saying there is that if we are paying officials to administer the Bruce Stadium redevelopment, which we certainly are, then we are entitled to ask questions about the conduct of those officials and their responsibilities, including anything relating to the Bruce Stadium redevelopment. Mr Speaker, I think it is a very important point to make that the Estimates Committee has a very clear and wide-ranging function to examine public administration, including the administration of the Territory's finances by the Government. That is exactly what this committee did.

Mr Speaker, the committee has made a series of important and sensible recommendations. The most significant, I believe, is recommendation No. 2, dealing with the continuing deterioration in social conditions and the provision of social services in the Territory. That is an issue which the Government rejected in its response and Mr Hird rejected in his dissenting report. However, Mr Speaker, it was the view of all non-government members of the committee that the Government develop:

The committee went on to recommend that there should be an annual report on the impact of social, fiscal and economic policy on those who are in greatest need.

Mr Speaker, that is a central recommendation. What we saw from the Government did not satisfy us that the Government's use of key result areas was the most appropriate measure in determining the social impact of fiscal policy. The committee went on to observe that, quite clearly, there was no justification for the Government's claim that it was not focused solely on financial objectives. That did not stand up to scrutiny, Mr Speaker. What the committee is saying here is: "Let us have a strategic social plan for the Territory. Let us put it in place and have it as a tool for focusing on our budget priorities to make sure that we are addressing those areas of greatest need and, equally, that we are not adversely affecting them in the implementation of our financial priorities".

Unfortunately, the Government in its response to the Estimates Committee report has said, "No, we will not implement a social plan for the Territory". Interestingly, the Government in its response makes the point that it is doing a number of things that it believes substitute for a social plan. (Extension of time granted) Mr Speaker, the Government, amongst the various documents that it quotes in its response, indicates that it is addressing the recommendations of the recent report on the quality of life project carried out by ACTCOSS and the Government which will provide mechanisms to reflect community values in the assessment of and planning for quality government programs. Mr Speaker, I understand that that quality of life project has gone nowhere, absolutely nowhere, since the report was delivered to the Government eight months ago.

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