11 Jul 2006 Estimates Committee A—Legislative Assembly 1 TUESDAY, 11 JULY 2006 Legislative Assembly ESTIMATES COMMITTEE A—LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Estimates Committee A Members Ms RG Nolan (Chair) Mr DJ Briskey Mr JP Langbroek Mr BJ Quinn Mr PG Reeves Mr LJ Springborg Mr CA Wallace In Attendance Hon. T McGrady, Speaker Mr N Laurie, The Clerk of Parliament Mr M Hickey, Director, Corporate and House Services Ms S Davies, Deputy Clerk Mr C Atkinson, Manager, Financial and Administrative Services Committee met at 8.30 am. CHAIR: I declare the meeting of Estimates Committee A open. I am Rachel Nolan, chair of the committee and member for Ipswich. Joining me on the committee are Lawrence Springborg, deputy chair and member for Southern Downs; Craig Wallace, member for Thuringowa; Phil Reeves, member for Mansfield; Darryl Briskey, member for Cleveland; John-Paul Langbroek, member for Surfers Paradise; and Bob Quinn, member for Robina. The committee will examine the proposed expenditure contained in the Appropriation (Parliament) Bill 2006 and the Appropriation Bill 2006 for the portfolios assigned to it by the order of appointment made on 21 April 2006 and amended on 10 May 2006. Proceedings for today will commence with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. From 9.30 am to 1 pm the committee will examine the portfolio of the Premier. There will be a 20-minute break at 10.30 am and a lunch adjournment from 12.50 pm to 2 pm. The portfolio of the Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for State Development, Trade and Innovation will be examined from 2 pm to 4.30 pm and the portfolio of the Minister for Public Works, Housing and Racing will be examined from 4.45 pm to 7.15 pm. The proceedings today are similar to parliament to the extent that members of the public cannot ask questions. In that regard I remind visitors that in accordance with standing order 206 any person admitted to a public hearing of a committee may be excluded by order of the committee. In relation to media coverage of the hearing, the committee has resolved that television and film coverage and photography will be allowed during the chair’s introductory comments and the opening statements of the Speaker and each minister, as well as for short periods during each changeover of ministerial advisers. I also ask that all mobile phones be switched off. The first item for consideration is the estimates of expenditure for the Legislative Assembly. I welcome Mr Speaker and parliamentary officers. The time limit for questions is one minute and answers are to be no longer than three minutes. A 15-second warning will be given prior to the expiration of these time limits. An extension of time may be given with the consent of the questioner. I remind members, as I indicated earlier, that if there are interjections on the Speaker or ministers I will determine those to be new questions and restart the clock. In accordance with the standing orders, at least half the time available for questions and answers will be allocated to non-government members. I declare the proposed expenditure for the Legislative Assembly open for examination. The question before the committee is— That the proposed expenditure be agreed to. Mr Speaker, would you like to make an opening statement or do you wish to proceed straight to questioning? 2 Estimates Committee A—Legislative Assembly 11 Jul 2006 Mr SPEAKER: I will make an opening statement. First of all, I thank you for the professional way in which you have made the introduction this morning. The 2006-07 budget estimates for the parliament are the first for which I am directly responsible. I am here today in my role as the person charged with responsibility for preparing the budget for the parliament and supervising the management of the Parliamentary Service. As committee members would be aware, the Appropriation (Parliament) Bill seeks to provide funding for salary and allowances for members of the Legislative Assembly and funding for the Parliamentary Service, which provides administrative and support services to the Legislative Assembly. The total appropriation sought for the parliament in 2006-07 is $58.177 million, an increase of 3.83 per cent over last year’s appropriation. This increase is required primarily to meet enterprise bargaining salary increases for staff and salary increases for members. Assuming responsibility for the management of the parliament and the Parliamentary Service is an honour and, indeed, a challenge. While I have been a member of parliament for over 16 years, it is only now that I appreciate the competing demands associated with the Speaker’s position. One of the challenges in framing a budget for the parliament is achieving a balance between the needs of members as individual representatives and the collective needs of the parliament and the wider community. In this my first budget I would like to pursue a number of key initiatives that will deliver benefits to members individually and collectively and also the wider community. I am pleased to announce that funding has been set aside in this budget for the video broadcast of parliamentary proceedings. This initiative builds on previous initiatives designed to make the parliament more accessible to Queenslanders, including the audio broadcast of parliamentary proceedings, regional sittings of the parliament in Townsville and Rockhampton and the introduction of electronic petitioning. I have also set aside funding for a number of ongoing building preservation and infrastructure improvements in the area of stonework restoration, air conditioning, information technology and water usage. The committee has already been provided with additional information in relation to some of these initiatives. The importance of maintaining the precinct is not only important from a heritage perspective but also important from a business and safety perspective, with the precinct now hosting more visitors than ever before. I am committed to ensuring that the precinct remains open and accessible to Queenslanders and also to interstate and international guests and visitors. In fact, parliamentary catering has advised that functions held in Parliament House just last week have amounted to $105,000, with one function totalling $65,000 during that period. As a member representing a large regional electorate, I appreciate the importance all members place upon their electorate office and their electorate office staff. While there have been many welcome improvements in equipment, information technology and communication in recent years, electorate offices remain very busy workplaces with unique challenges. I am pleased to announce that the electorate officer training initiative that commenced in the last financial year will continue in the current one. A further 89 electorate office staff from across the state will be invited to attend the tailored training course. I hope that this training will provide electorate office staff with additional tools to help manage in the electorate office environment. Since becoming Speaker I have personally visited some 48 electorate offices to listen to the views of members and electorate office staff. I have been particularly pleased to receive positive feedback from electorate staff about the support provided by the Parliamentary Service staff here at Parliament House. Parliamentary Service staff deliver a wide range of services from within the parliamentary precinct, ensuring that value for money is being achieved in the delivery of these services, and that is important. During the development of this budget I took the opportunity to meet with key managers to discuss the full details of the budget. This also provides a good opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the diverse activities undertaken by the service and management’s plans for the coming year. While the service is operating efficiently, there is always room for improvement, and I will work with the Clerk to ensure that the service continues to improve. In closing, I would like to thank the Premier and Treasurer throughout the 2006-07 budget development process. Discussions concerning funding for the parliament have been conducted in a positive and cooperative manner with appropriate recognition of the principles underpinning the Appropriation (Parliament) Bill currently before the parliament. Madam Chair, I wish the committee well in its deliberations. CHAIR: I now call on the Leader of the Opposition to commence questions. Mr SPRINGBORG: Mr Speaker, as a lot of Queenslanders know, in the last couple of weeks a police investigation has been instigated into the allegations of missing or stolen furniture around this precinct dating back to the early 1990s or even further back than that. In 2004 during parliamentary estimates the Speaker identified $12,649 worth of missing silverware picked up during a stocktake here in the parliamentary precinct. Mr Speaker, have police ever been called to investigate this? If not, why not? 11 Jul 2006 Estimates Committee A—Legislative Assembly 3 Mr SPEAKER: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question. As you know, I have only been the Speaker since August last year and therefore I do not believe it is my responsibility to answer questions regarding a previous administration. But I have to inform the committee that late yesterday afternoon baggage was discovered on one of the beaches north of the city which contained some silverware. I tell the committee this now because obviously the first thing I did when I received this telephone call was to inform the police, as I have done on every single occasion. The police have been conducting inquiries, and I do not think it would help the inquiries if this committee here were to go into the details. I have to say to the committee that when I first received information from the gentleman, a former employee of Parliament House, I informed that person that I would have to pass on all of the information to the police, which I did.