Page 3495 - Week 09 - Thursday, 20 August 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I would also like to briefly congratulate Triathlon ACT, who conducted the Australian duathlon championships in Canberra on the weekend. I admit to an immediate conflict of interest, as I was a participant in the event. Being an Australian championship—it was not one of the more high-profile ones conducted in this country—it drew to Canberra citizens from every state and territory of this country to participate in the event. It therefore contributed to the ACT’s tourism exposure as well. It is, I guess, a passion of mine that there are many of these sporting events that are perhaps not so high profile but that are an important part of the ACT tourism base as well as promoting a healthy lifestyle both for people in Canberra as well as people from around the country.
The event was conducted in an extremely professional way, including full road closure for the event, to make it entirely safe for the competitors. I think it highlighted Canberra. The race was held along the shores of Lake Burley Griffin and around Parkes Way and I think it was a great showcasing of Canberra and what a wonderful place we live in. I would like to congratulate the organisers of that event on both promoting Canberra and their extremely professional conduct of that event.
Chief Minister
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (4.26): This morning in the comments I made in relation to the report on the parliamentary budget officer, I spoke about a precedent for seconding staff from the public service and I referred to a report of a Senate committee. I did something I normally did not do. I referred to something that I had been told about without actually reading the reference. The reference has now been given to me and I need to correct the record a little.
It was a report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs of May 1989, Mergers, takeovers and monopolies profiting from competition. In fact, there was not a recommendation in relation to seconding; there was a note of thanks. “The committee would like to thank” a named officer “who was seconded from the Attorney-General’s Department and” another named officer “who was seconded from the Department of Treasury, for their assistance in the preparation of the report.” The committee was grateful for their assistance.
I just wanted to point out that the secretary of that committee was one J Stanhope. The precedent, therefore, for seconding members of the public service in the federal parliament goes back at least as far as 1989 and is known to the Chief Minister. His comments on seconding staff in relation to the estimates process do not reflect the practice, as they have been carried out for at least 20 years in the commonwealth parliament.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
The Assembly adjourned at 4.28 pm until Tuesday, 25 August 2009, at 10 am.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .