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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-24 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Committees

BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE: ANNUAL REPORT

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (16:28): I move:

That the report on the operations of the Budget and Finance Committee, 2009-2010, be noted.

I will speak briefly to this particular motion. This is a procedural issue. It allows the annual report to be noted, but it also allows all the evidence taken by the Budget and Finance Committee in 2009-10 to be tabled. We have this issue with a particular standing order which does cause a little bit of difficulty in the ongoing operations of various committees and could potentially be a problem in relation to the issues of the Budget and Finance Committee. The Budget and Finance Committee is resolved, on a regular basis and possibly six monthly in the future, to table its evidence in the council to prevent any potential problems there might be under standing orders.

In moving the motion, I thank our hard-working secretary Mr Guy Dickson, who is long-suffering in terms of organising the administration of the committee, the witnesses and the interminable changes in dates for those witnesses. The only other point I would make is that I am disappointed in the response of the government. The motion in establishing this committee approved the provision of a full-time assistant to the Budget and Finance Committee. The Clerk, on behalf of the committee, sought funding from the government to meet that decision of the Legislative Council, but that request was refused by this government.

As I have indicated before, the ongoing success of this committee requires quality long-term staffing, as occurs with other standing committees or ongoing committees of the parliament. It has been our party's view that this ought to be a standing committee of the parliament and an ongoing committee, and it needs that corporate history or memory and long-term assistance, and that is something we will seek to achieve at some stage in the future.

The committee may, with the assistance of the Legislative Council, need to do as it has done in the past and advertise for short-term or part-time assistance, but that is something the committee will address in the coming months. Given the position of the public sector at the moment, where a lot of people are losing their jobs, early in the new year may be an opportune time, when someone could be available who has good knowledge of public sector finances for some ongoing part-time work on behalf of the Budget and Finance Committee. That is certainly something worth considering.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. Carmel Zollo.

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