8.2.2 Members and staff of parliament shall have the right to receive technical and
advisory assistance, as well as to network and exchange experience with individuals from other legislatures.
9.1.1 The legislature shall be accessible and open to citizens and the media, subject only to demonstrable public safety and work requirements.
9.1.2 The legislature should ensure that the media are given appropriate access to the proceedings of the legislature without compromising the proper functioning of the legislature and its rules of procedure.
9.1.3 The legislature shall have a non-partisan media relations facility.
The Clerk is responsible for providing general non-partisan information about the Assembly where media requests are made whilst the Speaker of the Assembly makes media comment about the specific operations of the legislature, again, in a non-partisan way.
9.1.4 The legislature shall promote the public’s understanding of the work of the legislature. 9.2.1 Where the constitution or parliamentary rules provide for the use of multiple
working languages, the legislature shall make every reasonable effort to provide for simultaneous interpretation of debates and translation of records. 10.1.1 Legislators should maintain high standards of accountability, transparency and responsibility in the conduct of all public and parliamentary matters.
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This is a matter of community percep tion and debate and is not easily operationalized. However, it is worthy of mentioning that the Assembly has recently established of an ethics adviser position which will provide a source of advice and information on areas of ethical ambiguity and will add extra assurance that MLAs uphold high standards of accountability, transparency and responsibility.
10.1.2 The legislature shall approve and enforce a code of conduct, including rules on conflicts of interest and the acceptance of gifts.
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10.1.3 Legislatures shall require legislators to fully and publicly disclose their financial assets and business interests.
There is a code of conduct for MLAs. There are also rules and procedures MLAs to declare gifts.
10.1.4 There shall be mechanisms to prevent, detect, and bring to justice legislators and staff engaged in corrupt practices.
Members are required to declare any gifts or other financial or business inter ests through a Statement of Registrable Interests form. Completed forms are kept by the Clerk of the Assembly and accessible to members of the public and the press on request.The purpose of the Statement of Registrable Interests form is to place on the public record Members’ and Ministers’ interests which may conflict, or may be seen to conflict, with their public duty.
Although the ACT has no independent commission to investigate corruption, the Australian Federal Police has a remit to review suspected breaches of the criminal law perpetrated MLAs.The ACT Auditor-General and the ACT Ombudsman also play a role in receiv ing and investigating reports concerning ACT MLAs suspected of wrongdoing.