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PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE AMENDMENT BILL 22 OF 2009

                               FACT SHEET


          PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE AMENDMENT BILL 2009

·   The Public Works Committee Amendment Bill 2009 amends the Public Works
    Committee Act 1914.

·   The Public Works Committee Act is amended to increase the limit above
    which public works must be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee
    on Public Works, from the current $2 million to $5 million.

·   The Public Works Committee Act is also amended to expand the scope of the
    Public Works Committee to include scrutiny of any capital project exceeding
    $5 million, by removing reference to a public work as being characterised as a
    work funded out of the Loan Fund (Consolidated Fund) and replacing the
    characteristic of a public work with one that is proposed to be undertaken by a
    general government sector body.

·   The amendments also:

    o   provide for a definition of what is meant by a "general government sector
        body" to clarify that it includes a Government department within the
        meaning of the State Service Act 2000 and it also includes any State
        authority classified in the Treasurer's annual report as an entity within the
        general government sector;

    o   remove reference to the submission of a proposed public work to
        Parliament after referral of the proposed public work to the Committee, as
        this does not occur in practice. (Once Cabinet approval is given to an
        agency's budget submission, the Appropriation Bill is submitted to
        Parliament. Thereafter, an agency will submit a relevant matter to the
        Committee via the Governor and once approved by the Committee, will
        advertise for contractors to undertake the works.);

    o   change the threshold under which the House of Assembly may, by
        resolution, refer any public work to the Committee for scrutiny from the
        current $2 million to $5 million; and

    o   include a transitional provision to make it explicit that any work currently
        under scrutiny by the Committee is still required to be reported on by the
        Committee, even if the amendments to the Act would otherwise cause that
        work to no longer be covered by the Act, ie a project of a value between
        $2 million and $5 million.
 
 

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