Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works I present the committee’s 74^th annual report concerning the committee’s activities in the calendar year 2010.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

This report is a requirement under section 16 of the Committees Act and the committee presents its summary of its proceedings shortly after the end of each year. During 2010, the committee conducted inquiries into nine works with a combined cost of $491.5 million. Appendix A of the report lists all works and their individual costs. The committee also considered 51 medium works projects, those with a budget of between $2- and $15 million and the combined costs of these works was $416.8 million. Appendix B of the report lists these works. The committee held 24 meetings throughout the year in Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin and Sydney and these are all listed in appendix C of the report.

There are a few matters that I would like to highlight. The committee is rightly proud of the efficiency with which it conducts inquiries. In 2010, the average time from the referral of a work to tabling the report was nine weeks. The committee also introduced a new procedure manual, which increases the detail of the committee’s scrutiny of Commonwealth expenditure with new referral requirements for agencies proposing works. These requirements seek information that has not previously been collated by agencies. Agencies have reported that the new requirements help improve their internal preparation as well as providing the committee with more useful detail for its scrutiny role. The committee reiterates the importance of all Commonwealth agencies fulfilling their obligations to the parliament, including the requirement to bring medium works to the committee before any contracts are let. The committee continues to work hard to ensure that projects do not fall through the cracks.

A number of works were exempted from committee consideration in 2010 and the committee considers this an unacceptable state of affairs. The exemption provisions in the Committees Act are for unforseen and truly urgent circumstances, not for remedying poor planning by agencies.

As I noted before, the committee has a speedy process and the committee expects all agencies, no matter how big or small, to be aware of their obligations to the parliament under the Public Works Committee Act. I would like to give special thanks to officers of the Special Claims and Land Policy Branch of the Department of Finance and Deregulation, who assist agencies in preparing their proposals for committee consideration. I also thank members and senators for their work throughout 2010 and, in particular, I thank the members of the committee of the 42nd parliament and my immediate predecessor as chair, Senator the Hon. Jan McLucas. I would also like to specially mention the deputy chair, Senator the Hon. Judith Troeth, who has been able to offer me very professional and collegiate support in my role coming in as a new chair.

I would also like to thank the committee secretariat, including the previous secretary, Sharon Bryant; acting secretary, Alison Clegg; inquiry secretary, Anthony Overs; senior research officer, Thomas Gregory; and administrative officers Shaun Rowe and Claire Young. I commend the report to the House.