Page 928 - Week 04 - Thursday, 3 May 2007
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advances. Why have you been unable to explain why an ACT government employee found it necessary on two separate occasions to make cash advances on their credit card, a practice that is only allowed under very exceptional circumstances by the territory’s own guidelines?
MR STANHOPE: Thank you, Mrs Burke. I am grateful for the opportunity to expand on issues in relation to credit card use. The difficulty, of course, is that the opposition, in their questioning on this, drop numbers and descriptions by reference to “example A” or “example B”. There are thousands of credit card transactions a year in the ACT public service. I must say that I do not brief myself on these things. These are issues that are delegated to departments, delegated to chief executives and delegated to senior executives. But you stand up in this place and ask a question without notice about a credit card transaction that is one among thousands and then deride me because I cannot say, “Oh, yes, I remember that credit card transaction. I remember that one. That was credit card transaction 2,035 in a list of 7,000 and I have memorised them all.” Of course I do not have access to credit card records. Why would I have? These are functions delegated to departments and to chief executives.
We have rigorous processes in place. The Auditor-General, as recently as February this year, has reported that our systems are essentially very sound and work well. Indeed, we see that in the issues that you have been raising. In every one of them where there was an irregularity it was an irregularity identified as a result of the systems in place. The Auditor-General recorded no instances of fraud in relation to the issues that you have raised. In fact, she commended the government essentially for the processes that have been put in place.
Post the Auditor-General’s report, I asked for assurances from each of my chief executives. As a result of that, several separate agencies initiated internal audits that have confirmed the findings of the Auditor-General’s report. I think there are in total four irregular transactions, of 4,000 or so. I do not know the number; I am saying thousands but I do not know how many thousands—I think four. Let us work this out as a percentage. I should do that. I will ask my department to work out what percentage those four or five irregular transactions would be. We are talking here of about 0.00 something of a per cent being irregular.
I have expressed my serious concern about that. I have expressed my serious concern that at chief executive or senior executive level there were instances of an inappropriate use, a mistaken use or, as I said, a slack use of a credit card. They involve, in the most severe example, an amount of $300, which was recognised by the officer in charge 20 days after the transaction and addressed immediately. The other example involved a total of $90, which was addressed four weeks later, immediately it was noticed in statements, and the other case I think involved a few dollars.
In relation to the cash advances, there are guidelines. The guidelines provide that a cash advance is appropriate in limited circumstances; namely, in relation to overseas travel. The two examples that you referred to that I have been able to identify involve cash advances by the chief executive or the then chief executive of the Chief Minister’s Department in relation to a trip to China and a trip to the United States of America. I am advised that the cash advances were 100 per cent in accordance with the guidelines, were appropriate, related to overseas travel and that there is absolutely
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