Office of the Legislative Assembly

The Office of the Legislative Assembly, established by the Legislative Assembly (Office of the Legislative Assembly) Act 2012, provides procedural and administrative advice and support to the Assembly and its committees. Section 6 of the Act provides that the Office is responsible for performing a number of specific functions, including:

• providing advice on parliamentary practice and procedure and the functions of the Assembly and committees;
• reporting Assembly proceedings and committee meetings;
• maintaining an official record of Assembly proceedings;
• providing library and information facilities and services for members;
• providing staff to enable the Assembly and committees to operate efficiently;
• providing business support functions, including administering the entitlements of members who are not part of the Executive;
• maintaining the Assembly precincts; and
• providing public education about the functions of the Assembly and committees.

The Office is headed by the Clerk of the Assembly (Tom Duncan) and is made up of the Office of the Clerk, the Parliamentary Support Branch, and the Business Support Branch. Unlike other parts of the ACT public sector, neither the Clerk, nor the staff of the Office are subject to the direction of the Executive.

The Office of the Clerk

The Office of the Clerk is responsible for a range of governance and procedural matters, parliamentary education and public affairs. David Skinner is the Director of the Office of the Clerk.

Parliamentary Support Branch

The Parliamentary Support Branch is headed by the Deputy Clerk, Julia Agostino, and is responsible for advising and supporting key parliamentary activities, including:

• Chamber Support—providing administrative and procedural advice and support to the operation of the chamber;
• Committee Support—providing administrative and procedural advice and support to the Assembly standing and select committees;
• Hansard—providing transcripts of Assembly and committee proceedings; and
• the Assembly Library—library information and reference services for MLAs, their staff, Office staff and other ACT public sector employees.

Business Support Branch

The Business Support Branch is headed by the Office’s Executive Manager, Rachel Turner, and is responsible for servicing and advising non-executive members, their staff, the Clerk and Office staff in relation to a range of key functions, including:

• Finance—financial and budgetary management services;
• Human Resources and Entitlements—HR, payroll and entitlements advisory services;
• Broadcasting, Information and Technology—ICT, records management, and broadcasting services; and
• Security and Building Services—security, facilities and building management services.