Barry Maggie: State Sector and Public Finance Reform Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarry Maggie: State Sector and Public Finance Reform Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 02 July 2013. Volume:691;Page:11682. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore):When we look at Part 3 of the State Sector and Public Finance Reform Bill it falls really into three main areas. This includes subsidiary reporting where the reporting regime focuses on a group reporting and auditing with the Minister of Finance. That group will have the power to require reporting from any member of the group so that is a tightening up of those procedures. The group reporting change does not apply however when you have school boards of trustees or tertiary education institutions that have an investor or a multi-parent subsidiary—enough said really on that aspect of it.Another aspect is greater reporting flexibility which is going to provide more meaningful information. This is an area that my colleague John Hayes dealt with a little bit earlier—the reporting changes at the start of and at the end of each year. Those are not dissimilar to other provisions in other Acts.But it is the first aspect of Part 3 and the amendments to the Crown Entities Act 2004 that I wish to concentrate on in my call and that is the collaboration with other public entities. The thing about this bill is that it amends the collective duty of statutory Crown entity boards relating to how the board is to perform its functions. Under these changes boards will be required to ensure that the entity collaborates with other public entitieswhere practicable. That is a very important measure that comes up in these amendments because it really helps break down the silo approach to providing services which this Government has identified as being part of the problem with public services. So we have a situation where we need to have these entities working much more in combination with other agencies. The limitation of the phrase “where practicable” really gives the board the ability to determine the efficiency and the effectiveness of collaboration with other agencies in any given situation.That once again is in keeping with the overall policy of our Government that there are directions to support a whole-of-Government approach. This whole-of-Government approach is very much at the heart of this piece of legislation and at the heart of Part 3. In particular there will be two smaller groups of Crown entities than currently. There is also going to be a broader range of objectives including to secure economies or efficiencies which is something we commend; to develop expertise and capability and who amongst us would argue with that; to ensure business continuity; or to manage risks to the Government’s financial position. These are all very sound policies and philosophies that underpin the legislation and that are spelt out in this amendment.The amendments will also make the use of Government directions more useful and more selective but in a way that respects the entities’ legal separation and arm’s-length relationship. These directions to entities will not come as they have in the past from public servants in part but will come much more appropriately from the Minister of Finance and the Minister of State Services.Those are the three main elements of Part 3—the amendments to the Crown Entities Act 2004. I am not going to dip into the petty politics as have others in the Chamber before me. I will leave my call at that. Thank you.