The House of Assembly was scheduled last week to form a register-of-interests special select committee, but the motion was bumped off the order paper when it was revealed that changes first need to be made to the Register of Interests Act, Premier Dr. Orlando Smith told reporters on Friday.
“It should be back on the order paper for the next meeting of House,” he said. “The reason why it was removed at the time was because there was some changes in the legislation which need to be made.”
The Register of Interests Act, which was passed in 2006, was intended to help prevent conflicts of interests among lawmakers by requiring them to declare financial interests such as directorships, employment, clients, sponsorships, gifts received, overseas visits, land and shareholdings.
The committee – which was supposed to be chaired by Communications and Works Minister Mark Vanterpool (R-D4) and to include backbencher Alvera Maduro-Caines (R-D6) and Opposition Leader Julian Fraser (R-D3) – was needed before the register could be officially established.
Under the current law, the register would not be public and would only be searched upon a criminal investigation or court order.
However, the changes Dr. Smith mentioned might entail making the information public as requested by the territory’s former governor, Boyd McCleary.
In interviews earlier this year, government backbencher Archibald Christian (R-at large) and Mr. Fraser both said they support the law being rewritten to allow for the public to see the register. Dr. Smith also said in a pre-election interview last month that he supports making legislators’ financial interests public.
{fcomment}