Senator ADAMS—Firstly, I did nominate several people for appointments and I had a letter back thanking me very much for my nominations. I have been on a number of ministerial appointed boards over the years. You are given a three-year or a five-year term, or whatever it is, and normally a letter comes and thanks you very much for the work that you have done et cetera, and that is it. Most of the time you do not expect to be reappointed. You have got that term and you are very fortunate to have it, and someone else may have it. So I am just wondering, in terms of the process, where it is all going. I think when someone’s term is up, if a letter is written saying, ‘Thank you very much,’ there is no need to say, ‘You haven’t done this,’ or ‘You haven’t done that.’ It is just not what it is about. The minister appoints and the minister reappoints.

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Ms Gosling—That is right. They are ministerial appointments, and a number of these people have been reappointed and had several terms.

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Senator JOYCE—Ms Gosling, when they are appointed, do you give them any guarantee whatsoever that they will be reappointed? Do you ever write a letter saying, ‘This is an appointment and we’re going to renew it after it’s over’?

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Ms Gosling—No. It is an appointment for a specified time.

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Senator JOYCE—In fact, are you categorically clear, when you send them the letter, that the appointment is for a specific period of time?

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Ms Gosling—Yes. They know that the appointments expired on 31 December 2006.

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Senator O’BRIEN—Is this committee just a plaything of the minister?

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Senator JOYCE—I think that is an uncalled-for comment.

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ACTING CHAIR—We might go back to Senator O’Brien, who can finish his set of questions, and then go to Senator Joyce.

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Senator JOYCE—Have you ever had a—

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ACTING CHAIR—Senator Joyce, I am just letting Senator O’Brien finish his set of questions.

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Senator JOYCE—Sorry. I thought you were indicating for me to speak.

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ACTING CHAIR—No—very shortly.

Ms Gosling—I said that the minister wrote to Ms Leonie Taylor on 7 February, which in fact he did. But that was a subsequent letter. He had initially notified her in writing; the letters were signed on or about 21 December, as well as, I understand, oral communication from his office at that point. There was a follow-up letter on 7 February. I just wanted to clarify that there was an earlier letter.

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Senator JOYCE—How many ACCs are there in Australia?

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Ms Gosling—There are currently 56.

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Senator JOYCE—Do any of the chairs or deputy chairs get paid?

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Ms Gosling—No, they are volunteers.

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Senator JOYCE—They are all volunteers. So it would be similar to other volunteer organisations, in which case they are relying on the benefaction and goodwill in the community to participate in them.

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Ms Gosling—That is right.

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Senator JOYCE—As such, you would presume that they are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts and, apart from asking them politely, you cannot really impose strict conditions on them to return paperwork, send paperwork in, organise meetings. You hope they do it, and if they do not do it I suppose you can get rid of them. But you are really relying on their community service ideals, aren’t you?

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Ms Gosling—Yes. They are volunteers, so to that extent it is a community service. Obviously the organisations do have paid executive officers and other staff, and those people are responsible for the governance and recording of the ACC.

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Senator JOYCE—Have we every had a community say that they do not want their ACC anymore, that they wish it was disbanded or got rid of?

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Ms Gosling—Not to my knowledge.

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Senator JOYCE—So you would say that there must be generally a good sense of connection with the community and people are pretty happy with them.

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Ms Gosling—Yes.

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Senator JOYCE—Regarding the reappointments, has anybody anywhere ever given to you an expectation that, when they are appointed once, they are appointed in perpetuity?

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Ms Gosling—No. The appointments are for a finite period.

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Senator JOYCE—In fact, you clearly state that to them in the letter when you send it to them, don’t you?

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Ms Gosling—Yes. The minister states what the period of the appointment is.

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Senator JOYCE—If someone was to feel that they were slighted by not being appointed, that is really their own personal interpretation of the situation, rather than anything to do with the facts of their appointment.

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Ms Gosling—I find it hard to speak on that, Senator. But the periods are for a finite term.

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Senator JOYCE—Have we in any way anywhere ever led someone to believe that their appointment is somehow different to what is said in the letter and that they are going to be appointed for a longer period of time?

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Ms Gosling—No, not to my knowledge, but they are ministerial appointments.

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Senator JOYCE—The Mackay science and technology centre has been brought up. Has the state government already planned a $35 million TAFE college for Mackay?

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Dr Dolman—That is our understanding, that there is a state funded centre in Mackay.

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Senator JOYCE—We would have a bit of a duplication then, wouldn’t we, with two facilities and expenditure of public moneys on something that really, in essence, has already been supplied to the district?

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Ms Page—There is a process that is taking place at the moment to finalise a business case in relation to the election commitment. Clearly those issues are being examined as part of that.

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Senator JOYCE—Have any of the major stakeholders that were initially involved in the $8 million science and technology centre now advised their intentions to not be part of it and have moved to Brisbane?

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Ms McNally—Not that we are aware of, Senator.

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Senator JOYCE—Wasn’t it one of the sugar research bodies that has now decided to leave? They were initially in your stakeholders group.

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Ms McNally—We are still going through the business case phase.

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Senator JOYCE—If we are to be provident with this $8 million expenditure, and if we have a similar project that is right beside it, it would make sense that in your business scenario you would probably be more cautious than usual about how you spend that money.

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Ms Page—Clearly a business case would look at the requirement for the facility, any duplication of facilities, the need for it, and if there were rival or alternative centres that would be a consideration for the government in deciding what the level of th