Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

In summing up debate on this bill on behalf of the government, could I just make a few short comments. I do not want to keep the Main Committee too long on this, as the opposition have indicated their support for the bill. The passage of the Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2005 will enhance the financial management framework of the Australian government and lead to clearer and more efficient administrative arrangements and practices.

The greater part of the Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill proposes amendments that are of the same type as were made in the act. The act commenced on 22 February 2005. These types of amendments were also supported by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit in its report No. 395: Inquiry into the Draft Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill. The report was a precursor to the introduction of the bill that was passed as the Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Act. The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit has been consulted about the proposed amendments to the public accounts act and has indicated its broad agreement to the amendments. I note that the amendments do not alter the committee’s role, powers and functions as contained in the act.

This bill really only covers housekeeping matters of an administrative nature, and that is presumably one of the reasons that the opposition support this bill. I noted the comments by the member for Melbourne about raising other detailed matters in the Senate. That would probably be the most appropriate place to do that, as the minister responsible for this bill, the Minister for Finance and Administration, is in the Senate.

I was a bit intrigued by the references that the member for Wills made in his statement. I think he was drawing a very long bow with respect to being relevant to the legislation. I gave him latitude, I suppose, in letting him make his comments, but I will just comment on the Job Network matter that he raised. I note that he did not refer to the unemployment rate in criticising Job Network. I do not know what the unemployment rate is in his electorate, but I suspect it has probably dropped dramatically over the last 10 years.

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