Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Administration: Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Administration - Inquiry into Annual and Financial Reports 2025 2026 (9 November 2026) · Polyfact

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Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Administration: Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Administration - Inquiry into Annual and Financial Reports 2025 2026 (9 November 2026)

9 November 2026

Contents updated on 9 Nov 2026

The committee opens and scrutinises procurement governance, including notifiable contracts obligations, the Secure Local Jobs framework, major labour hire arrangements, and data limitations in tracking local, SME and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander supplier participation, before closing with clarification of the Code’s labour standards focus and processes for questions on notice.

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Public Accounts Committee — procurement transparency, local content and First Nations contracting

00:05

Public Accounts Committee — opening and procurement transparency obligations

00:05

Opening — Chair outlines procedure and timing

00:05

Cocks — Procurement Act publication obligations

01:06

Cocks — Compliance, audits and missing contract variations

04:48

Cocks — Oversight of payments and procurement assurance

11:55

Public Accounts Committee — insurance liabilities, concessions, budget controls and tax debt management

13:53

ACT Insurance Authority — liabilities, premiums and capital risk

13:53

Carrick — ACT Insurance Authority liabilities and capital position

13:53

Carrick — Medical negligence risk, premiums and possible appropriation

17:54

Household concessions, Commonwealth payroll tax and GST equalisation

20:38

Clay — Utilities concession and end of Commonwealth energy relief

20:38

Clay — Coordination and reporting of concessions and household impacts

23:31

Concessions data — impact on multi-support households

29:07

Yvette Berry — payroll tax on Commonwealth workforce

31:58

GST horizontal equalisation — benefits for the ACT

34:23

ACT funding fairness, ABS population and inherited assets

36:00

Ed Cocks — payroll tax vs GST relativities and modelling

39:04

Procurement scope clarification, Secure Local Jobs framework and major labour hire contract

42:35

Public sector workers compensation fund — jurisdiction clarification

42:35

Secure Local Jobs Code — purpose and upcoming review

44:38

High-value limited tenders — accountability and question on notice

47:43

Comensura labour hire contract — piggybacking and transparency

51:22

Revenue forecasting, budget control frameworks and outcome indicators

55:17

Fiona Carrick — revenue forecasting and program review

55:17

Treasury — budget control and cash management frameworks

58:32

Carrick — request for more granular financial reporting

01:01:18

Outcome indicators and wellbeing framework alignment

01:04:51

Clay — ESA efficiency review and Treasurer’s Advance

01:06:32

Local procurement policy, data limitations and NGO commissioning

01:08:21

Local procurement decline and Local Industry Participation plans

01:08:21

Government policy objectives on local procurement and red tape

01:12:29

Measuring local and First Nations procurement spend

01:13:40

Procurement rules and volunteer / community organisations

01:17:39

Baseline data and reliability of local procurement metrics

01:20:11

Berry — social capital vs value for money in NGO procurement

01:21:59

Revenue Office — COVID-era tax debts, arrears metrics and hardship settings

01:25:00

Revenue Office — COVID‑era legacy debts and rates

01:25:00

COVID period tax debts and recovery approach

01:27:00

Mr Cocks — overdue rates and tax debt metrics

01:29:53

Revenue Office — hardship, interest and legislative limits

01:32:39

First Nations procurement — accreditation integrity, supplier lists and spend targets

01:36:24

First Nations procurement — accreditation and blackcladding concerns

01:36:24

New guidelines scope — ownership vs procurement settings

01:40:35

Mr Emerson — supplier list integrity and audit processes

01:42:05

Canberra region list, non-local suppliers and policy consistency

01:44:02

Addressable spend targets — category setting and transparency

01:47:52

Secure Local Jobs Code purpose, local content data gaps and hearing adjournment

01:52:22

Ms Morris — Secure Local Jobs Code website changes and local spend

01:52:22

Secure Local Jobs Code — local content data limits

01:55:44

Secure Local Jobs — question on interstate contracts and website change

01:58:01

Minister Stephen-Smith — purpose of Secure Local Jobs Code and dispute over website wording

01:58:52

Committee members — request to table website evidence

02:01:12

Chair — thanks, questions on notice and adjournment

02:01:38

Economics Committee — opening, export education, innovation, investment and international engagement

02:16:16

Economics Committee — opening, international education, innovation precincts and UC–CIT merger

02:16:16

Economics Committee — opening, scope and privilege

02:16:16

International student caps — revenue impact and graduate retention

02:18:05

Retention indicators and UC–CIT merger — town centre benefits

02:21:35

CBRIN operations and City Health Building HVAC/asbestos

02:24:49

Saul Eslake report — ACT economic structure

02:30:02

Private sector growth — trade, exports and CBRIN

02:34:23

Government support pathways for exporters and innovative firms

02:39:46

University of Canberra — territory exposure and support

02:44:10

UC–CIT merger — political support, process and due diligence

02:46:02

Private investment climate, large-scale batteries, business dynamics and international engagement

02:51:01

Private sector investment levels and social licence issues

02:51:01

Minister — recent private investment examples

02:54:23

Q — tax and regulatory settings vs NSW

02:58:33

UNSW and migration policy — framework impacts

03:01:01

UNSW Canberra campus — $3b impact and student mix

03:06:21

Q — BlackRock Uriarra battery and Western Edge landscape

03:11:07

Planning framework and location of large batteries

03:14:25

Community concerns, NEM connection and parliamentary options

03:17:18

Q — risk of cuts to public sector and international students

03:18:52

Chief Minister — impact of lost international students

03:22:29

Q — member: low ACT business survival rate

03:24:35

Q — members: sectors and ACT-specific mobility

03:26:40

Q — member: is low survival a policy concern?

03:27:58

Q — member: monitoring business failures and tax settings

03:31:08

Q — Mr Milligan: purpose and focus of trade delegations

03:32:43

Q — Mr Milligan: costs and support for delegation participants

03:37:20

Q — Ms Vassarotti: budget and outputs of international engagement

03:39:17

Q — Ms Vassarotti: measuring missions, inbound visits and export returns

03:42:53

Social Policy Committee — Equality portfolio, ACTPS diversity and LGBTIQA+ inclusion

03:49:17

Social Policy Committee — opening, ACTPS diversity and Capital of Equality actions

03:49:17

Social Policy Committee — opening and equality portfolio role

03:49:17

Minister — ACTPS diversity targets and inclusion

03:51:40

Capital of Equality Strategy — staff guidance and training

03:54:24

Capital of Equality First Action Plan — delivery status and transition

03:56:23

Q — Nuttall: ACT Policing liaison and ‘For Us, By Us’ commitments

04:00:25

‘For Us, By Us’ roadmap — co‑design, timing and funding

04:02:27

Q — Nuttall: SB LGBTIQA+ acronym and staged implementation

04:05:30

Inclusive schools and sport, health access metrics and core needs data; hearing closure

04:07:40

Q — Berry: Safe and Inclusive Schools and sport inclusion

04:07:40

Q — Emerson: Health access disparities and evidence of improved pathways

04:12:49

Q — Nuttall: Tracking core needs outcomes and data limitations; hearing closure

04:17:21

Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Administration: Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Administration - Inquiry into Annual and Financial Reports 2025 2026 (9 November 2026)

9 November 2026

Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Administration Mon, 9 Nov 2026 ACT Legislative Assembly

Follow its sittings

00:05 - 01:06

Speaker 5

Good afternoon and welcome. We have the minister, Ms Rachel Stephen-Smith, Minister for Finance, and officials. Now obviously we're all accustomed to being in this place and obviously when you first speak could you please state your name and the capacity in which you appear for Hansard and please make that as a witness you are protected by parliamentary privilege and bound by its obligations. You must tell the truth; giving false or misleading evidence will be treated as a serious matter and maybe considered contempt of the Assembly. As we're not inviting opening statements, we'll go straight to questions.

We do have two hours for this session, a long time. I'll allocate 10 minutes to each member to ask a series of questions, feel to change topic, it's up to them, and I'll first pass my substantives across to Mr Cocks.

01:06 - 01:36

Speaker 1

Thank you, Chair. I want to start out with some questions about the reporting and publication requirements under the Procurement Act. Just to, anyone who needs to get to the table some time, what I'm interested in is, and I'd like to start just by checking in so that we can make sure we're on the same page, what does the Procurement Act require to be published for a notifiable contract?

01:36 - 01:53

Speaker 15

Michelle Dowdell, Acting Under Treasurer, I've read and acknowledge the privilege statement. I'll just give Ms Potter a moment to get that up, so she can go.

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