ANNUAL REPORT 2010 - 2011 ACT LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT 2010–2011 ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARIAT ASSEMBLY LEGISLATIVE ACT ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat Annual Report 2010 – 2011 i Scan with a compatible mobile phone to visit our website ISSN 1036-4390 (Print) ISSN 1835-0569 (Online) © ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat This publication is subject to copyright. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 2003, no part of it may in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, microcopying, photocopying, recording or otherwise) be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without prior written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publishers. First published September 2011 Published in Australia by the ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat Civic Square, London Circuit Canberra ACT 2601 Australia Telephone 6205 0439 Facsimile 6205 3106 Email – [email protected] Web – www.parliament.act.gov.au Follow the Assembly on Twitter: ACT_Assembly Produced by: ACT Government Publishing Services Publication No 11/0941 Printed on 100% recycled paper ii ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat Annual Report 2010 – 2011 TRANSMIttAL CERTIFICATE Shane Rattenbury MLA Speaker Legislative Assembly for the ACT Civic Square London Circuit CANBERRA ACT 2601 Dear Mr Speaker, I am pleased to submit to you this annual report on the activities of the ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat for the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011. I hereby certify that the attached annual report is an honest and accurate account of the operations of the Secretariat during this period. Tom Duncan Clerk Legislative Assembly for the ACT September 2011 ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat Annual Report 2010 – 2011 iii CONTENTS The Clerk’s overview vi The road ahead viii Section A – Performance reporting The organisation 2 Assembly proceedings 5 Procedural highlights 11 Interparliamentary activities 17 Financial report and management discussion and analysis 18 Analysis of the Secretariat’s performance 18 Section B – Consultation and scrutiny reporting Internal and external scrutiny 42 Legislative Assembly committee inquiries and reports 44 Legislation report 47 Section C – Legislative and policy-based reporting Risk management and internal audit 50 Fraud prevention 51 Public interest disclosure 51 Freedom of information 52 Internal accountability 57 HR performance 58 Staffing profile 61 Learning and development 64 Workplace health and safety 65 Workplace relations 67 Strategic asset management 68 Community grants/assistance/sponsorship 74 Territory records 74 Human Rights Act 76 Ecologically sustainable development 76 Appendicies Appendix 1 – Sitting days 90 Appendix 2 – Proceedings 91 Appendix 3 – Minutes of proceedings 92 Appendix 4 – Bills and amendments 93 Appendix 5 – Bills presented 94 Appendix 6 – Questions with and without notice 95 Appendix 7 – Chamber support services 96 iv ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat Annual Report 2010 – 2011 Appendix 8 – Attendant, security and facilities management 98 Appendix 9 – Committees – Seventh Assembly 99 Standing Committee on Administration and Procedure 99 Standing Committee on Climate Change, Environment and Water 100 Standing Committee on Education, Training and Youth Affairs 101 Standing Committee on Health, Community and Social Services 102 Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety 103 Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety (performing the duties of a Scrutiny of Bills and Subordinate Legislation Committee) 104 Standing Committee on Planning, Public Works and Territory and Municipal Services 106 Standing Committee on Public Accounts 107 Select Committee on Estimates 2011–2012 110 Standing Committee on Administration and Procedure 111 Appendix 10 – Committee Statistics Summary of Committee Statistics 1989-2011 116 Consolidated committee statistics 117 Hours of meeting 118 Number of referrals and ongoing inquiries 118 Appendix 11 – Reception and exhibition room statistics (bookings) 119 Appendix 12 – Hansard and transcription 121 Hansard activity 121 Hansard timeliness 121 Hansard accuracy 122 Appendix 13 – Broadcasting and IT 125 Broadcasting and IT 125 Internet & intranet-related activity 126 Appendix 14 - Library and referral services 128 Appendix 15 – Members of the Seventh Assembly 130 Appendix 16 – Office holders of the Seventh Assembly 131 Appendix 17 – Ministries of the Seventh Assembly 132 Appendix 18 – Remuneration of MLAs 134 Appendix 19 – Visits by members and parliamentary officers from other legislatures, delegations and other visits 135 Appendix 20 – LAMS Act statistics 136 Number of staff employment agreements processed 136 Number of non-executive MLAs’ staff employed at each classification at 30 June 2011 137 Appendix 21 – Activity of the Assembly Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association 138 Appendix 22 – Education program 139 Appendix 23 – Financial statements and management discussion and analysis 140 ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat Annual Report 2010 – 2011 v THE CLERK’S OVERVIEW It has been a year of considerable activity and achievement for the Legislative Assembly Secretariat, with the organisation continuing to provide high levels of service to support the Assembly and its committees. A number of major initiatives were advanced, including: commencement of legislative drafting work on a bill to enshrine the independence of the Secretariat and reflect its unique role in government service; completion of a trial Committees on Demand service which provides a searchable audiovisual record on the Assembly website of the proceedings of the Select Committee on Estimates 2011–12; financial processing services were taken back in-house from Shared Services Finance; finalisation of the IT strategic plan and endorsement by the Standing Committee on Administration and Procedure; preparatory work on the development of a Secretariat staff satisfaction survey; replacement of the Assembly’s desktop and laptop computers, accompanied by an upgrade of the standard operating environment to Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2007; replacement of the broadcasting head end in anticipation of upgraded broadcasting capabilities in 2011-12; commenced using Twitter to communicate to the public details of chamber proceedings and other aspects of Assembly business; the Director of the ACT Library and Information Service and the Acting Clerk of the Legislative Assembly signed a service level agreement formalising the transfer of the Library from the management and direction of the ACT government to control by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly; the Secretariat commenced a complete redesign of the Assembly Library intranet site which, once finalised, will provide enhanced online resources; a wide range of building and facilities management activities, including remedial work on fire penetrations, the refurbishment of parquetry at the members entrance and the refurbishment of lifts; expansion of security measures across the building with the installation of proximity pass controllers on Secretariat offices; and vi ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat Annual Report 2010 – 2011 establishment of a community engagement working group to better integrate, coordinate and communicate engagement activities across the organisation. It was also a busy year in terms of interparliamentary relations, with the Secretariat providing considerable support to both the Australian Study of Parliament Group and the Australia and New Zealand Clerks-at-the-Table with their respective conference and workshop. 2010-2011 at a glance Committees—Supported 7 standing committees and 1 select committee; tabled 40 reports; held 57 public hearings; took evidence from 595 witnesses; received 208 submissions; and considered 139 statutory appointments, 64 bills and 376 pieces of subordinate legislation. Community engagement—Including facilitating visits from community groups and delegations; conducting public service seminars, school debates and facilitating the schools’ constitutional convention and Speaker’s citizenship evenings; totalling 1874 participants.1291 visitors accessed the replay of Assembly proceedings via Daily on Demand and the followers of the Assembly Twitter account received 75 tweets. Conferences—Facilitated 2 conferences on parliamentary procedures and practice. Legislation—Processed and arranged the notification of 50 executive bills and 5 private members’ bills passed by the Legislative Assembly. Performance—Members rated their satisfaction with the Secretariat as satisfied or highly satisfied in 69 out of 90 service delivery areas in the survey of members. Questions—Supported members in their scrutiny of the executive with 697 questions on notice and 1702 questions without notice. Staffing—Full-time equivalent staffing (FTE), by section: Office of the Clerk 2.68 2 Chamber Support 11.37 12.12 Committee Office Corporate Services Hansard, Communications and Library 6.81 7 Strategy and Parliamentary Education ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat Annual Report 2010 – 2011 vii I would like to acknowledge the important role that the Deputy Clerk and Serjeant-at-Arms, Max Kiermaier, performed during the year, when he acted as Clerk for a considerable period while I was on long service leave. The Secretariat’s support to MLAs and the institution of parliament itself certainly continued to a high level in my absence and I thank Max for his contribution. The road ahead The coming financial year will see several major