Page 3138 - Week 15 - Thursday, 14 December 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
No-one else but a Minister can carry out the duties of a Minister. Look further to section 51. Only a Minister can direct a department. If we take an interpretation of this - and I am sure the senior lawyer present will understand this - a department may not advise anybody but a Minister. We are waiting with bated breath for Mr Kaine in a short time to tell us how these executive deputies are going to work. Is he going to withdraw from the claim he made and the diagram he gave us? It may be that the executive deputies will become assistants, part-time secretaries, and that may be fine; we may go along with it; but let us see whether we have a Kaine model or a Collaery model in what is going to happen.
Let us not have executive deputies leading Government dominated committees directly into the channels of government and leaving this Assembly relatively powerless. Let us not go down that path. Now, I may be proved wrong. I would be very happy for Mr Kaine to demolish my arguments when he speaks in a short time and outlines what the executive deputies are going to do. But I do want to know how this Assembly, through its committees, will scrutinise the activities of government. Will there be conflicts of interest and how will the separation of powers be maintained? These are critical questions.
Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, I move for an extension of time.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Wood, the question has been posed that you be granted an extension of time. Is leave granted?
Leave granted.
MR WOOD: I was timing it to finish in time, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Please proceed.
MR WOOD: Thank you for that extension. If I had known I was going to get an extension - I thought I would not, you see - I would have developed some of this argument that was coming across the chamber.
Mr Jensen: We know you are a reasonable man, Bill.
Mrs Grassby: Be careful, Bill. When they say they like you, that is when they attack. Always be careful of the enemy.
Mr Kaine: I offered him a portfolio, but he would not accept it.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Wood, please proceed.
MR WOOD: The problem was that you offered me a portfolio, yes, indeed, but I had a better offer from Mr Humphries. He offered me the Chief Ministership, which I declined, obviously. He was happy to be deputy chief to me.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .