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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 2 Hansard (4 March) . . Page.. 415 ..

Tuesday, 4 March 2003

MR SPEAKER (Mr Berry) took the chair at 10.30 am, made a formal recognition that the Assembly was meeting on the lands of the traditional owners and asked members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the Australian Capital Territory.

Public Accounts-Standing Committee

Report No 4

MR SMYTH (Leader of the Opposition) (10.32): Pursuant to order, I present Report No 4 of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts entitled Appropriations Bill 2002-2003 (No 2) together with extracts of the relevant minutes of proceedings. I seek leave to move a motion authorising the report for publication.

Leave granted.

MR SMYTH: I move:

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MR SMYTH: I move:

Mr Speaker, as promised in the last sitting week, the Public Accounts Committee has looked at the Appropriation Bill No 2 for this financial year. The report will be tabled this morning and follows the deliberation of members. There are three simple recommendations which go with the report. The first is that the bill be passed; the second looks at the nature of risk management; and the third talks about accountability processes so that members of the Assembly, and therefore the public, can be kept up-to-date with the expenditure that will come from the recent bushfire tragedy.

During proceedings, a number of issues came up. I would like to briefly address a couple of those issues. The first is the issue of risk management. I feel that risk management is very important. It is something all good businesses take into account in this modern day and age. The recommendation that the government brings forward a statement on the risk management strategies, adopted in agencies such as the ESB and the hospital, to deal with major emergencies is as a result of what we thought was a somewhat casual attitude of the government towards the nature of risk management-and indeed the government's attitude.

Mr Speaker, I draw to the attention of the Assembly that one of the objectives of the ACT Insurance Authority, set out in section 9(e), under its functions, is to promote good risk management practices. We in the Assembly have recognised that risk management is an important issue. It is therefore appropriate that the executive take it as a serious issue as well.

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