Table 3: Percentage of non-executive/backbench members in Australian legislatures Legislature No. of members No. of ministers Parliamentary secretaries/ assistant ministers Non-executive/ backbench members %: backbench members Tasmania – House of Assembly 25 8 2 15 60 Australian Capital Territory 17 6 - 11 64.7 Queensland 89 19 12 58 65.2 Northern Territory 25 8 - 17 68 Western Australia – Legislative Assembly 59 12 5 42 71.2 South Australia – House of Assembly 46 12 - 34 73.9
Scotland 128 15 18 95 74.2 Western Australia – Legislative Council 36 5 3 28 77.8 New Zealand 121 25 - 96 79.3 Commonwealth – House of Reps 150 16 13 121 80.7 Victoria – Legislative Assembly 88 17 - 71 80.7 Commonwealth – Senate 76 6 7 63 82.9 Victoria – Legislative Council 40 5 - 35 87.5 Canada – House of Commons 308 24 14 270 87.7 South Australia – Legislative Council 22 2 - 20 90.9 Tasmania – Legislative Council 15 1 - 14 93.3 United Kingdom – House of Commons 650 22 9 619 95.2 Inaugural Officers of the Legislative Assembly are sworn in On 8 July 2014, Speaker Vicki Dunne MLA presided over the swearing-in of the inaugural Officers of the Legislative Assembly. This formalised the appointments of the ACT Auditor-General and members of the ACT Electoral Commission as Officers of the Legislative Assembly.
Recommendations 40 and 41 The Committee recommends that the manager of the Committee Support Office should not be a secretary of a Standing or Select Committee. The Committee recommends that resources be provided to the Committee Support Office to allow for an additional Committee Secretary, thereby allowing the manager to be unencumbered by also being a committee secretary. Noted. The Clerk, who is responsible for staffing arrangements of the Office, will consider these recommendations in the context of an expanded Assembly. The occupant of the role of Director Committee Support (and its predecessors) has previously been a secretary to one or more Assembly committees. This has not unreasonably interfered with the secretariat support provided to committees, nor has it unreasonably interfered with the management of the functions of the Committee secretariat. The current staffing structure of the Office, including the committee support function, is the result of an independent organisational review and extensive staff consultation in 2012.The Clerk considers the structure appropriate to the current needs of the Assembly. At the end of the reporting period the Office had commenced a new review of its organisational structure. The Clerk will announce any changes to staffing arrangements in 2015-2016.
Number of instances of broadcasting services in relation to: press conferences 5 9 2 multimedia events 72 90 45 teleconferences 2 6 15 clocks/phones/TVs/videos/ aerial 68 83 66 Number of logged service calls for the provision of IT advice and support 1,044 1,083 1,550 Broadcasting & IT systems availability Number of incidents of non-scheduled non-availability of major components of broadcasting infrastructure Nil 1 1 Number of incidents of non-scheduled non-availability of network and major IT system applications 6 3 1
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Investments A breakdown of the Office’s Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Investments at 30 June 2015 is shown in the following table. Table 6: Breakdown of 2014-2015 Cash, Cash Equivalents and Investments Cash at Bank and Cash on Hand $m Investments $m 0.253 0.836 Comparison to Budget The following table shows the composition of the Office’s Total Asset position as at 30 June 2015 compared to the 2014-2015 Budget and as at 30 June 2014. Table 7: Total Assets 2014-2015 – Comparison to Budget Asset category Actual 30 June 2015 $m Original Budget 30 June 2015 $m Actual 30 June 2014 $m Current - Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.253 0.240 0.031 - Receivables 0.075 0.075 0.041 - Investments 0.836 0.718 1.195 - Other Assets 0.033 0.002 0.006 Non-Current - Property, Plant and Equipment 1.565 1.838 1.636 - Intangible Assets 0.042 0.026 0.052 - Capital Works in Progress 0.247 - - Total Assets 3.051 2.899 2.961