7 Dec 2020 Estimates—Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary Services 1 MONDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2020 _______________ ESTIMATES—ECONOMICS AND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE—LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY AND PARLIAMENTARY SERVICES EST IMATES—L EGI SL AT IVE ASSEMBLY AND PARLIAMENTARY SERVICES Estimate Committee Members Mr LP Power (Chair) Mr RA Stevens Mr MJ Crandon Mrs MF McMahon Mr DG Purdie Mr A Tantari _______________ Members in Attendance Mr JP Bleijie Ms SL Bolton Mr DF Crisafulli Ms FS Simpson Mr SSJ Andrew Mr MC Berkman Mr DC Janetzki Dr A MacMahon Mr TL Mander Mr ST O’Connor _______________ In Attendance Hon. CW Pitt, Speaker Mr G Hasanakos, Executive Officer Mr N Laurie, Clerk of the Parliament Mr M Ries, Deputy Clerk of the Parliament Mr C Atkinson, Director Corporate Services and Electorate Office Liaison Ms J Prowse, Director Information Services and Parliamentary Librarian Mr S Johnson, Director Property and Facility Services _______________ The committee met at 9.00 am. CHAIR: I declare this hearing of the Economics and Governance Committee open. I would like to begin today's proceedings by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to eldest past and present. My name is Linus Power, the member for Logan and chair of the committee. With me here are: Ray Stevens, the member for Mermaid Beach and deputy chair; Mr Michael Crandon, the member for Coomera; Ms Melissa McMahon, the member for Macalister; Mr Dan Purdie, the member for Ninderry; 2 Estimates—Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary Services 7 Dec 2020 and Mr Adrian Tantari, the member for Hervey Bay. The committee has granted leave for non-committee members to attend and ask questions at its hearing today, so members may be present over the course of the proceedings. Today the committee will consider the Appropriation (Parliament) (2020-21) Bill 2020 and the Appropriation Bill (2020-21) 2020 and the estimates for the committee's areas of responsibility. I remind everyone present today that they may be excluded from the proceedings at my discretion as the chair by order of the committee. The committee has authorised this hearing to be broadcast live, televised and photographed. Copies of the committee's conditions for the broadcast of the proceedings are available from the secretariat. While mobile phones are not permitted in the public gallery, today and throughout estimates an exception has been made for staff who are assisting witnesses here today and who are being permitted to use their devices for this purpose. I do ask all those present to ensure that their phones and other electronic devices are switched to silent mode, if not turned off. I remind you that food and drink are not permitted in the chamber. This year the House has determined the program for the committee's estimates hearing. The committee will examine portfolio areas in the following order: the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 9 to 9.45; Premier and Cabinet and Trade from 10 to 1.30; Treasury and Investment from 2 to 6; and Tourism Industry Development, Innovation and Sport from 6.30 to 9 pm. The committee will now examine the proposed expenditure of the Appropriation (Parliament) 2020-21 Bill 2020 for the Queensland Legislative Assembly. The committee will examine this portfolio area until 9.45. Visiting members are Mr Jarrod Bleijie, the member for Kawana and Ms Sandy Bolton, the member for Noosa. There may be other members who have previously contacted the committee who arrive. I remind all those present today that the committee's proceedings are proceedings of the Queensland parliament and are subject to the standing rules and orders of the parliament. It is important that questions and answers remain relevant and succinct. The same rules that apply to questions in parliament also reply to this hearing. I referring to standing orders 112 and 115 in this regard. Questions should be brief and relate to a single issue and should not contain lengthy or subjective preamble, argument or opinion. I intend to guide proceedings today so that relevant issues can be fully explored and to ensure there is adequate opportunity to address questions from government and non-government members of the committee. On behalf of the committee I welcome the Speaker, the Clerk, parliamentary officers and members of the public, especially those listening to the live web broadcast. For the benefit of Hansard, I ask officials and advisors to identify themselves the first time they answer a question referred to them by the Speaker or the Clerk. I now declare the proposed expenditure for the portfolio area administered by the Speaker open for examination. The question we are examining before this committee today is— That the proposed expenditure be agreed to. Mr Speaker, if you wish you may make an opening statement of no more than five minutes. Mr SPEAKER: Thank you very much, Chair, and members of the Economics and Governance Committee. I would also like to acknowledge that we meet today on the land of Aboriginal people and pay my respects to elders past and present. We are very fortunate in this country to have two of the world's oldest continuing living cultures in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, whose lands, winds and waters we all now share. I am pleased to appear before the committee today—which is, of course, focusing on the Legislative Assembly and the Parliamentary Service—in my capacity as Speaker. This is the first such opportunity I have had since being elected as Speaker for the 57th parliament. I also welcome the Clerk, Mr Neil Laurie, and other officials from the Parliamentary Service to assist me in answering your questions today as well as George Hasanakos from the Office of the Speaker. When I last appeared at estimates in June 2019, I spoke of my desire to open up the parliamentary precinct and the parliament as an institution to the people more than ever before. It is with some irony that 18 months later the parliament is only now emerging from the impacts of COVID-19. As part of our COVID-19 response it was necessary to suspend a range of activities central to public engagement with the parliament. That included school tours, public tours, catered event bookings, educational programs, public access to committee hearings and the public parliamentary gallery. Working with the Clerk, I approved a range of measures to protect members, staff and visitors, both here on the parliamentary precinct and in electorate offices across Queensland, to ensure that the range of parliamentary services could continue to be delivered in a COVID-safe way. 7 Dec 2020 Estimates—Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary Services 3 With respect to the proceedings of the House itself, the pandemic required the development of a virtual chamber—a paradigm-changing step on how parliament can operate. The virtual chamber, which was never used, is ready to be deployed if we should ever require it again. Let's hope we do not under these circumstances. Over a five-week period from early April, in the Undumbi Room in the Parliamentary Annexe the Parliamentary Service established an alternate standby chamber for a virtual sitting. This would have allowed some members to potentially attend in person and others to participate remotely by the use of videoconferencing software. I do not want that work to go unrecognised because it was an extremely big effort to ensure that we had options as a parliament to continue our democracy in Queensland. While I am pleased to report that important public access to the parliament, the precinct and electorate offices has returned to a new normal, COVID-safe plans have been developed to assist our recovery and protect Queenslanders as they engage with the parliament. As we look to the 2020-21 budget, a key focus over recent weeks has been the transition from the 56th to the 57th parliament, including: the delivery of a formal induction program for new members; coordination of the official opening of parliament; and assisting new members to establish staff and administrative systems to support their roles. As part of the ongoing ICT strategy approved in 2018 work has continued on delivering a range of ICT initiatives, including: the replacement of electorate office telephone systems; planning for the issue of new members' portable devices; and planning for enhancements to IT infrastructure and systems in the parliamentary precinct. Working alongside these planned IT enhancements—and equally as important—is delivering an ongoing cybersecurity strategy to ensure that we are deterring and responding to any cyber attacks. I now turn briefly to the Appropriation (Parliament) Bill, which includes funding for the salaries and allowances of members of the Legislative Assembly as well as funding for the Parliamentary Service. The total appropriation sought for the parliament in 2020-21 is $101.823 million, which is an increase of $1.295 million over the final appropriation provided in the 2019-20 budget. The increase is due primarily to changes to members' allowances approved by the Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal and deferral of appropriation funding for the 2019-20 budget due to delays in completing a small number of projects underway. Major capital works to be undertaken include the continuation of a major three-year program to upgrade critical infrastructure supporting the Parliamentary Annexe, including fire and sprinkler services, air conditioning upgrades and renewing mechanical and electrical systems. In closing this opening statement I would like to say that I welcome the opportunity to appear before your committee today. I am happy to give you as much information as I can, and I give you notice now that I am happy to take questions on notice should it be required.