Page 826 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
ACT public service flowing from the fact that we had already moved some way to a sharing of services within the ACT, particularly in relation to procurement and IT services, issues or advances or reforms that had not been advanced at that stage in other jurisdictions—clearly Western Australia.
The Western Australian experience or the establishment of a shared services centre in Western Australia of course started from essentially a zero base in a very large jurisdiction, whereas we did not. We started with some advances, some significant reform already having been achieved, particularly in relation to major areas of administration, and the Shared Services Centre to date is very much on target. Its structure is in place. One of the inhibitors that we are currently facing is the availability of appropriate accommodation. We see that, of course, just across the road from the Assembly in relation to refurbishment of what will be the home of the Shared Services Centre which continues today.
The Shared Services Centre has been a significant success, despite the enormous cynicism and opposition that the Liberal Party has shown to the concept. And it will, as a result of its success and the achievements—
Mr Smyth: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The question wasn’t about the setting up of the Shared Services Centre; it was actually about whether it would be able to deliver more timely information. There is only a minute and a half left; perhaps you might come to the question.
MR SPEAKER: Yes. Come to the subject matter of the question, Chief Minister.
MR STANHOPE: The question did presuppose, and of course I think it was important to have the context, the context being that the Liberal Party has opposed from the outset the establishment of a shared services centre—suggested that it would never work, that it was a flawed process and that it would fail. Well, it has not failed. It has been a singular success and, of course, to the extent that we have in the Shared Services Centre centralised and reformed the delivery and the provision of services to all areas of governance we can expect all of the benefits that we imagined from the creation of the Shared Services Centre to flow.
In relation to the provision of information that was referred to in the question, in relation to the question that was asked yesterday to which I have not yet responded, of course there is a whole range of reasons around why certain information in relation to certain aspects of governance is more readily accessible in some portfolios than others. That is reasonable and to be expected; information is kept in different formats in different ways and is treated differently. It is there but of course it would be expected that under individual arrangements for the recording and the accountability around credit card expenditures that different agencies with the systems in place and the resources available would take a different time and a different approach to the provision of that information. I do not think there is anything particularly remarkable about that.
MR SPEAKER: Supplementary question?
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .