Page 1746 - Week 05 - Thursday, 10 May 2018
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time in relation to their inquiry into the methodology for determining rates and land tax for strata residences. My question is, and I want this answered in this place—
Mr Wall: A point of order, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: Resume your seat. Stop the clock. A point of order?
Mr Wall: I seek your guidance as to whether it is appropriate for issues currently under inquiry by the Select Committee on Privileges to be debated in this place whilst that inquiry is ongoing.
MR STEEL: On the point of order, I will not be asking about anything to do with the privileges committee. I am asking what the public accounts committee is doing in relation to the submissions that have been made to it in good faith.
Members interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Excuse me, but we are debating a motion on a committee and its need. I will listen with interest, but I do not think it has gone into committee machinations, so to speak, the mechanics of the committee or the deliberations of the committee.
Members interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Please let me finish. I think Mr Steel was going to pose some questions, and from how I have interpreted that, I think that in Mrs Dunne’s closing statement she may be able to provide some information. I will leave it at that, but I will listen with interest. Do you have anything further, Mr Wall?
Mr Wall: See where it goes.
MR STEEL: My simple question is: have the 19 submissions been received by the committee? Has the committee been able to meet to be able to authorise and publish those submissions? Are those submissions published on the committee website right now? And if the committee has not been able to meet to discuss how to deal with those submissions, why is that the case?
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (10.15), in reply: Madam Speaker, the issues are complex. To go to some of the issues raised by Mr Steel, without divulging deliberations of the committee—I am not divulging deliberations of the committee because the committee has not met on this—there is a swag of submissions which have been received, some from the have your say website, some directly to the committee office. And there is a swag of them that have not yet been considered and approved for publication. That will be a matter for the committee when it next meets.
There is a combination of reasons. One of them was that I was on a combination of leave and official duty in relation to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London. That had been scheduled for some time, and I had written to the Speaker about that. I was simply not in the territory for three weeks. I was surprised
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