Page 2157 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 28 August 2007
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continue to provide the service and that the Assembly should be recognised as the leading, although not the only, client of the Assembly library. That committee recommended that individual members be able to have access to funding through the library to fund research papers. How times have changed. Over the past year staffing levels have been under threat as part of the review of library services.
The estimates committee recently recommended that library services to the Assembly remain at least at current capacity and that there is no further reduction in maintaining community library services. I also understand that the Assembly library will be reviewed separately by an expert in specialist libraries. That probably is a positive development and I certainly hope that the minister and the Department of Territories and Municipal Services re-think the issue. The Assembly library provides an absolutely invaluable service to Assembly members and any cuts will affect our ability to do our job on behalf of the community properly—which is what we are here for.
In our dissenting report to the estimates committee Mrs Burke and I identified a couple of issues for the future. The first recommendation related to the use of high-speed broadband especially in the Assembly library. The internet is a crucially important research tool in our society, and it is crucially important that the Assembly, like other areas of the ACT government, has access to high-speed broadband so that we can improve our productivity and provide a better service to the people who put us here. For the same reason the dissenting report supported a review of the use of technology such as laptops, PDAs and mobile phones, again to help MLAs do the job that they are paid to do, and that is represent the community.
The Assembly is generally well run, but these improvements would enhance its performance and the performance of its members. I know the government is obviously not going to make those improvements, with the dismissive way it has regarded some recommendations in the report, but we are not talking a huge amount of money here. We are talking about sensibly using technology, sensibly ensuring that we can do our job properly for the people of the ACT. I hope the minister will take note of the recommendations about the library and the review, keeping and enhancing an excellent service not only to members, but also to outside people who use it as well.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (11.28): Certainly the Assembly has been through many changes since its establishment. One needs to look at those old photos and read some of the things that are available about those early assemblies to realise that we have come quite a way since the establishment of self-government. It appears the change in relation to the Assembly is incremental. It is yet to be shown to me how much it is advanced by the concerns of members. The progress that appears to happen may reflect things that members have said but it also seems to occur through an independence of its own.
The Greens have been involved in a number of issues since I have been here and, of course, before that. One that came up for me particularly in the past year is the availability of public rooms in this place. For instance, the reception room is one of the few truly public and accessible meeting rooms in Canberra. It is a very desirable space for organisations. I have been very happy to use my membership here to allow
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