Page 2396 - Week 11 - Thursday, 2 November 1989
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Now, quite clearly, for the acting deputy legislative counsel to have drafted Mr Stevenson's proposed amendments, it would have meant his condoning a member of the Assembly putting up a proposal to dispose of or charge public money of the Territory. The Act is quite clear. If you want to do that, you have to get a Minister to do it for you.
Mr Kaine: In fact it does not do what you suggest. It is not for a public servant to argue with an elected member, and it is up to this Assembly to argue the case.
MS FOLLETT: Well, I think that the Act is absolutely clear, and I support the comments made by the acting deputy legislative counsel. However, it seems to me to illustrate, if further illustration were necessary, the extraordinary confusion that exists about the use of consultants and about their appropriate use by members of the Assembly and by Ministers. As I have said before, the only possible action for us to take at the moment is to delete all reference to consultants from the LA(MS) Bill, because it is not central to the Bill and it is very necessary that we give staff who have been employed - some of them for getting on for six months - the sort of legislative protection that the Bill overall aims to provide.
MR SPEAKER: I seek the indulgence of members to make a statement from the chair on this issue. Members have no rights to use the government draftspeople for legislation. If there is spare time available, the government draftsmen may be used and may give their time. But we must be aware that this, therefore, puts us in a position where consultant draftsmen obviously will be required at the time of heavy workloads on the government drafters.
I further note that all correspondence to the legislative draftsmen is supposed to come through the Clerk. If this had happened, as has been requested, the letter that Mr Collaery received would have been investigated by me, discussed at length and a decision taken at the appropriate level. This did not happen, to my knowledge.
Mr Collaery: Excuse me, Mr Speaker; I tabled Mr Stevenson's letter. I have never received one.
MR SPEAKER: I refer to the letter from the legislative draftsman to whomever it was addressed. So the point is that, if we had stuck to the system that we are trying to put into vogue, this may have been alleviated at a lower level than was achieved.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (12.14): I seek leave to make a comment on the statement that you have just made, Mr Speaker.
Leave granted.
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