Offices Of Parliament — Appointment of Auditors—Office of the Ombudsmen and Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment 
Offices Of Parliament — Appointment of Auditors—Office of the Ombudsmen and Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment 
[Volume:664;Page:11829] 
Offices Of Parliament 
Appointment of Auditors—Office of the Ombudsmen and Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment 
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Attorney-General) 
: 
 I move  
That pursuant to section 31A of the Ombudsmen Act 1975 the House appoint the Controller and Auditor-General as the auditor to audit the Ombudsmen with effect from the financial year commencing 1 July 2010. 
I also move  
That pursuant to section 26(1) of the Environment Act 1986 the House appoint the Controller and Auditor-General as the auditor to audit the accounts of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment with effect from the financial year commencing 1 July 2010.  
The motion seeks to appoint the Controller and Auditor-General as the auditor of the Ombudsmen and of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. For the past 3 years the auditors of these two entities have been private sector firms. The Officers of Parliament Committee has recommended that the Auditor-General be again appointed as the auditor of each entity. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: I do not want to interrupt the Minister speaking but we have a lot of noise in the Chamber and the gallery. I ask for a little more quiet please. 
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON 
: Section 14(1) of the Public Audit Act 2001 makes the Auditor-General the auditor of every public entity including the Officers of Parliament. However the House is able to appoint another auditor of the Officers of Parliament if it so wishes. It did so in 2007 on the recommendation of the Officers of Parliament Committee. This year the committee further considered the issue and decided that the Auditor-General should be the auditor of the Ombudsmen and Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment as she is for all other public entities. 
The recommendation is certainly not a reflection on the performance of the two firms that have carried out the role over the past 3 financial years. One of the roles of the Auditor-General is to provide independent assurance that public sector organisations are operating and accounting for their performance in accordance with Parliament’s wishes. The Auditor-General is answerable to Parliament for that function. In the committee’s view it is appropriate that the Auditor-General exercise that audit and assurance function in relation to the Officers of Parliament. I am pleased to support the committee’s recommendations. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES (Labour) 
: 
 The Labour Opposition is in support of Government motions No. 4 and No. 5. The Attorney-General has recited to the House the process that has been followed in order for the motions in the name of the Leader of the House to be placed before us. They are mechanical measures that are required. Officers of Parliament serve and represent all of us as members of Parliament and it is important that they are audited in a correct way. There is a process for doing that. 
The Officers of Parliament Committee has recommended to us that the Controller and Auditor-General be the agency that audits these officers. I find myself on this particular occasion in agreement with the totality of the views expressed by the Hon Chris Finlayson. I think before I undermine that I should stop because it is such a wonderful moment. 
Motions agreed to.