Page 35 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 23 May 1989
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MR COLLAERY (3.17): I seek to raise this matter of public importance dealing with the actions of the Executive in relation to the election of the Leader of the Opposition in this Assembly on 11 May.
It seems ironic that I rise to speak firstly about the arrangement that was reached here on the 11th whereby the members opposite me, or most of them, arranged to elect themselves as leaders of this Assembly and then went around to organise their choice of opposition. It seems wholly appropriate in an assembly that has been set up this way that Mr Stefaniak's first question on notice to this Assembly, as historians will no doubt be interested to see, asks when big bins will be introduced into the Territory. That is ironic. Also I rise as a matter of luck, having won a ballot, to speak to you. So there is an interesting issue of public importance perhaps down the millennia.
I rise to speak on the subject of democracy, which of course has developed down the millennia. The Residents Rally has today received a sheaf of papers concerning committees, orders, orders of the day, and complex standing order arrangements, which clearly stem, I would suggest, from the convivial conversations that we have been able to observe in Mr Whalan's suite with Mr Kaine.
The submission that the Rally wishes to make relates to purported standing orders 5A and 5B, which state that on the first day of meeting of the Assembly after an election, or whenever the office becomes vacant, a member, not being a Minister, may be elected by the Assembly to be the Leader of the Opposition, and that that election should be carried out in a similar fashion to the election of Chief Minister.
The Rally has conducted research and sought eminent advice. Our advice is that the position in this Assembly at the moment in the British parliamentary system is totally unprecedented. Never before has an opposition been elected on the floor of the house by those with the conduct of the business of the house.
Section 21 of the enabling Act - that is, the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act - provided, amongst other things, that this Assembly could make standing rules and orders with respect to the conduct of business. Under the guise of an issue to deal with the conduct of business the Deputy Chief Minister rose to put on a motion by ambush which allowed for the creation of an extra office in this Assembly; that is, the office of Leader of the Opposition.
We all know that in the United Kingdom that office was created by statute in 1937, it has been created by tradition and convention in the House of Representatives across the lake, but this piece of legislation creating this Assembly provided only three offices. They were to be Chief Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
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