Page 1946 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 24 October 1989
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What, Mr Speaker, did the Government mean with those words? I assume, and I think any reasonable person reading those words would assume, that the Government was contemplating providing to other parties in the Assembly something which it did not have - new information. That question remained on the unanswered list for some time. On 26 September, about two and a half months later, I saw fit to ask the Chief Minister again about that earlier question. I asked:
Can the Chief Minister tell the house whether the Government is still giving consideration to the publishing of a legislative program for the benefit of members of this house; how much more consideration is necessary; and what is the problem in simply providing a list of Bills which the Government intends to introduce?
The Chief Minister thanked me for my question. I would appreciate less politeness and more action, I might say. She thanked me for the question and she said:
As I have indicated before, the Government is indeed considering a large legislative program -
I repeat, "a large legislative program" -
and we do, indeed, have a large amount of legislation in the pipeline, as Mr Kaine himself has said. Mr Speaker, I think it might be best if I were to take Mr Humphries' question on notice and respond to him in full as soon as possible.
Clearly, any reasonable person reading those words in Hansard or listening to them in the gallery would assume that the Government was still in the process of considering supplying to the Opposition and other parties here some information which it did not already have. That is an entirely reasonable assumption to make but one it appears the Chief Minister was not, in fact, making when she answered that question.
Finally on 19 October, last Thursday, the Chief Minister gets around to a final answer, three and a half months after originally agreeing to supply the information requested. I quote again:
I would like to point out that for some time now the Government has made a practice of informing party leaders of the Bills to be introduced in each sitting week. This information has been conveyed by the Deputy Chief Minister in his regular consultations with party leaders -
there is that word again -
at the start of each week. In other words, Mr Speaker, the Government has taken action to respond to Mr Humphries' request of 6 July.
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