Mr Speaker, the burning issue, as quite correctly said by the previous member, in this matter is whether the Speaker and the Chairperson can serve on the oversight mechanism.
The original merger in terms of the old Act, the 2009 Act, excluded them from serving on it. However, the oversight committee was never established, as has been said. The work was left for the Parliamentary Oversight Authority, the POA, and the Budget Forum, on which both the Speaker and the Chairperson serve.
It appears that when the previous Bill was adopted in 2009, the easy way was to construe the oversight mechanism in a similar fashion as a typical standing committee doing oversight over a department.
The fact is that Parliament is not a department, and the Speaker and the Chairperson are not Ministers. Parliament is a slightly different animal; and it is autonomous.
This Bill proposes that the governance functions of the POA and the Budget Forum are given to the new oversight committee created in clause 4. Section 13 of the Financial Management of Parliament Act requires the Speaker and the Chairperson to oversee Parliament's strategic performance plans and the Budget.
Also, clause 7 of this Bill amends section 17 of the Financial Management of Parliament Act to compel the Speaker and the Chairperson to table the above plans.
The vital question is whether the Speaker and the Chairperson can perform this function without serving on the oversight committee. I do not think so. Parliaments are different. There are many examples in the world where they allow the executive authority to serve on such a committee.
Cope is prepared to give this new era a chance and we shall support the Bill. [Applause.]