Parliament of Tasmania, Hansard Tuesday 9 September 2014 - Estimates Committee A (Hodgman) Ms OCONNOR - Premier, your Government came into office promising to abolish a number of boards and committees in order to fund your election promises and meet your savings. Do you agree that abolishing the Tasmanian Community Fund board is an entirely political move because there is not one cent of saving to government because that board is funded from within the TCF pool of funds? How do you justify abolishing the independent Tasmanian Community Fund board that was there to disburse money to communities over the sale of the former Trust Bank independently and at arms length from government? Mr HODGMAN - I will go through it in some detail but I will give you the black and white. It cost $130 000 per year to pay for the board. Ms OCONNOR - Yes, out of the TCF funds. Mr HODGMAN - Where else could that be spent? On some of the projects that receive grants and funds from the TCF. That is just the board fees and there are additional allowances and entitlements for the board. Ms OCONNOR - It is not a saving to government. Mr HODGMAN - But it is $130 000 that is being paid for a board that can now be spent on government programs - Ms OCONNOR - I think we have just got to the heart of it. Mr HODGMAN - Sorry, on projects that have been - Mr GREEN - Yes, government programs. Mr HODGMAN - If you are serious about this, would you rather the $130 000 per year be spent on the board? Ms OCONNOR - I am not here to answer your questions. Like many people, I would rather that these moneys were disbursed independently. CHAIR - Order. Ms OConnor, you have asked the question and you will allow the Premier to answer it. Ms OCONNOR - To be fair, the Premier was leading me, Chair. CHAIR - To be fair, you are still breaking the Standing Orders by interjecting. Mr HODGMAN - Let us just get the facts. The important question is whether you want the $130 000 per year spent on a board or would you rather than $130 000 go into the community into projects? Ms OCONNOR - I would rather your Government did not have their hands on this money. Mr HODGMAN - Each year the Tasmanian Community Fund is provided with an appropriation of around $6 million indexed at CPI. The appropriation is not subject to the budget process. The Government has decided to abolish the Tasmanian Community Fund board that currently administers the funding and return the funds used to support the board to the community. I cannot believe you are opposed to this. Ms OCONNOR - I cant believe you proposed it. Mr HODGMAN - Let me finish. Currently $130 000 per annum is paid out of the fund and allocated to the salaries of its six board members and in addition salaries, on-costs, meeting and travel allowances and attendance of board members at conferences and forums are also deducted from the fund. It is independent of government. It does not exist in some vacuum. Ms OCONNOR - But it will not be independent of government if you pull this off. Mr HODGMAN - Its appropriation is drawn from taxpayer funds and Australian Government transfers just like other Tasmanian Government revenue and we believe we can achieve better value and greater community input by abolishing the board and free up the money that is currently used to fundboards, salaries and expenses. There will be more money then for community initiatives. Over 10 years that is $1 million that can go into communities and that is a good thing. Ms OCONNOR - How much is it going to cost your department to administer the funds? Mr HODGMAN - There is already in place one or two FTEs to assist the board and they will continue to perform important administrative functions. Currently there is a senior executive officer employed at band 6 and an executive assistant employed at band 3 to do the day-to-day work of the fund. The approximate cost associated with these staff is $140 000, plus on-costs. These staff are employed by the Department of Premier and Cabinet as the act does not allowing for the hiring of staff. They are, however, paid from the appropriation of the fund. [11.30 a.m.] It is expected that these staff will continue to administer the fund on the abolition of the board. The senior executive officer and executive assistant will process all grant applications, provide support and feedback to applicants, manage the website, answer phones, write letters and arrange all other necessary paperwork. It is the same process. Ms OCONNOR - It is not the same process because the grants will not be determined and administered independently, which was the intent of the Tas Community Fund Act. Mr HODGMAN - Yes, they will, because are developing an alternative, independent, community-based policy to allocate funding from the community fund. The process for nominating an independent community panel will most likely occur as follows: a six-member assessment panel is to be established through an EOI process that will set out selection criteria with the requirement that the individual is able to assess TCF grants for a two-year period. I was told yesterday that on the previous occasion when there were expressions of interest for positions on the board, there were either 60 or 70 expressions of interest. We would hope there would be a significant number of people who want to participate. Three substitute panel members will also be selected in the case that the confirmed assessment members are not able to meet that two-year appointment. Panel members conflict of interest will be documented and managed. Panel members will have a maximum of four years on the panel and can re-apply once. Panel members will be approved by the minister, similar to the current situation, and will assess grant applications with the support of the funds existing senior executive officer. Ms OCONNOR - Can I correct you on that because recommendations come up to the minister from the board around its membership. The minister can choose from those recommendations or choose someone else. Primarily, in the past, ministers have been guided by the boards wishes about which members go on the Tas Community Fund Board. You would have to admit, it will be a much more politicised process. Mr HODGMAN - No. We are determined not to politicise this at all. That is why we are establishing an independent panel. Ms OCONNOR - The question on the lips of many people is, why would you interfere in a process that works? Why would you remove the independence around the disbursement of these funds? Why would you fix something that is not broken? Mr HODGMAN - We are not removing the independence; we are removing the amount paid to the board as it currently exists. There are many not-for-profit organisations that operate with unpaid boards - YNOT and COTA, for example, and they perform important functions. There are a number of bodies that administer public funds and generally their independence is not called into question. I see no good reason why people who are unpaid to undertake this function could not be considered independent. ___________________________________ Ms OCONNOR - When do you plan to table the legislation to abolish the Tasmanian Community Fund board? Mr HODGMAN - I am happy to continue explaining how we will ensure there is independence and how we will maintain the fund. It provides great benefit, notwithstanding we do not have to pay the board. We will need to make legislative change to have that legislation drafted as soon as possible. It will require an amendment to the Tasmanian Community Fund Act 2005. Ms OCONNOR - Are we likely to see legislation this year? Mr HODGMAN - As soon as possible. Ms OCONNOR - A letter has been written by a constituent of Mrs Rylahs to the Treasurer and all members of parliament, from Lynne Price of Burnie. I would like your response to a statement she has made about the proposed dismantling of the Tasmanian Community Fund board. She says: You have informed Tasmanians that this action was necessary as part of one of many cost-cutting measures designed to eliminate expensive boards and organisations. This is not correct as the TCF is totally self-supporting and funded from within the funditself. She is saying you are proposing to give your Government access to a pool of money which belongs to the community. It was established to benefit the community and not be in the hands of any government of the day. What is your response to Lynne Price of Burnie? Mr HODGMAN - It is a mistaken assumption that the saving would be to the Consolidated Fundwhen clearly it is a saving of that board. We believe the salary expenditure of $130 000 per year would best go to those projects around the state. When we undertook to review all government boards and committees we said we would review all boards and committees. It is a laughing matter for the Opposition Leader but we have been able to demonstrate savings already in that regard, and rightly so. Mr GREEN - No, I have been listening to you trying to justify what you are going to do with this. It is amazing. Mr HODGMAN - It also allowed us to review the operations of all boards to see where efficiencies could be made. In some cases it was to reduce the size of boards or an independent statutory officer can undertake and perform the functions of boards at a much cheaper cost to the taxpayer. In this instance, the amount expended on the salaries of the six board members is better put into the fund to be allocated into those community projects. Mr GREEN - With an independent panel? So you are getting rid of a board and having an independent panel. Mr HODGMAN - Yes, that is $1 million over 10 years. Ms OCONNOR - Are you seriously suggesting there will not be extra costs in your own department of Premier of Cabinet to administer these funds? With the $130 000 that you say will now be able to go into grants, are you seriously suggesting it is not going to cost your department more to administer these funds? Do you agree that these funds are for community benefit and should be kept at arms length from government and politicians? Mr HODGMAN - That is what will continue to occur under this new arrangement. Ms OCONNOR - Why change it? Mr HODGMAN - We put $130 000 which was going to board salaries back into the fund so we can put that money into communities. That is why we are doing it. It is redirecting that funding independently and through an appropriate process into those communities. I do not know why you would be so opposed to it. Ms OCONNOR - Premier, there are people of great standing in the community who are concerned. Mr HODGMAN - There are already administrative costs attached to the fund and that will continue through the department. There was never any suggestion, surely, when you were in government that by having it administered through DPAC it was a compromised process or it was being done by government. Ms OCONNOR - The recommendations for grant allocations came up independently assessed to the minister and we would never have dreamed of sticking our fingers into that money and interfering. Mr HODGMAN - Our panel will still make those assessments. Ms WHITE - When is a panel not a board? Tasmanian Parliamentary Greens Denison Electorate office 7 Franklin Wharf Hobart 7000 P: 03 6212 2228 W: mps.tas.greens.org.au
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 02:26:43 +0000
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