Page 1958 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 24 October 1989
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to identify problems before we come onto the floor of the chamber, the system has broken down.
Last week, we had a meeting on the Tuesday afternoon after the Assembly broke up. The purpose of that meeting was to iron out some of the difficulties in this group. There were some objections, but they were not raised a week before when there were briefing sessions offered; they were not raised on the Monday when we had briefings between the leaders of the party and myself; but they were raised on the floor of this chamber once the debate commenced.
What this was evidence of was lack of preparation, Mr Speaker. The people who were dealing with this legislation all of a sudden got up out of bed on Tuesday morning and said, "There is something on the program; I had better have a look at this". They looked at it and found something that they objected to, and when they objected to it, all of a sudden it hit them between the eyes.
The same thing happened with a classic example today. We had a meeting last night to say, "Have you got any problems with any of these items of legislation that we can discuss and work out?". We worked out some orders of business. But we have had a classic case today where an item of legislation which was on the list for tonight and the subject of discussion last night was raised as recently as lunchtime when considerable objection was taken to that particular item of legislation.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Deputy Chief Minister, your time has expired.
MR STEVENSON (3.59): The provision of forward legislative programs is a vital issue to good government but raises broader issues for this parliament and parliaments in general. Let me read the definition of "parliament" from the Shorter Oxford Dictionary; that is the one with only 2,515 pages. It says, "Formal conference or council for the discussion of some matters of general importance". It applies to consultative assemblies. One wonders whether we will lose the term "parliament" as it applies to consultative assemblies. The definition of "consultation" is "discussion of matters of importance", and it requires two-way consultation. I reaffirm that parliament is for proper debate and consultation.
Mr Humphries requested that information be supplied to this Assembly on 6 July, three and a half months ago. That information has not been presented to this Assembly, apart from promises three and a half months ago that it would be done. This, unfortunately, shows the typical lack of concern by this Labor Government for the role and the contribution of any other party in this Assembly.
Let us look at the process of scrutinising government legislation. It takes time. We need advance warning on these matters. It takes effort and a range of skills, and
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