Page 36 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 13 February 1990
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from time to time as well. I suppose that they have their own reasons why they might describe somebody as a Minister when he or she is not and when they know he or she is not. But I am not going to get into a debate with the media; they have their motives, and I admire them for what they do.
I do not believe anybody but the Opposition is confused. I do not believe that the business people with whom we deal have any sense of confusion about the matter, and I do not believe that the community organisations with which we deal have any confusion about the role of Executive Deputies. It seems to me that the only people who are confused are the people across the room who are so blind that they will not see.
As to the costs, as I said, there is no additional remuneration; there can be no additional remuneration. There are no suites for these people on the fifth floor. They will have exactly the same sort of accommodation as they had before. There are no increased costs, except in some cases to move them up there and move the public servants off. This separation of executive powers seems to be an interesting debate, but where people sit has nothing to do with the separation of powers. The fact that the public servants sit on the third floor and the executive members of government sit on the fifth floor says nothing about the separation of powers.
Mr Wood: That's not what you said in your answer to a question earlier. You said you shifted the public servants down.
MR KAINE: I understand the separation of powers. I suspect that you, Mr Wood, if you are going to argue with me, do not. And I thought you, of all people in the Opposition, would understand. I regret that you are having difficulty with this issue.
Mr Wood: But your answer now is inconsistent with your earlier one.
MR KAINE: No, it is not. I was talking about moving people off the fifth floor for other reasons, but it had nothing to do with the separation of powers. I do understand what the Executive is, and I hope you will accept me at face value.
I wanted to refer to only one other point, Mr Speaker, and that is that the Leader of the Opposition asserted that the Government intends to censor private members' Bills and that private members' business will be controlled by the Government. Absolute and sheer rubbish! I have written to the Leader of the Opposition in relation to this matter. She has made this statement before publicly. I have written to her to assure her that the arrangements that we have in place in no way permit me to intrude into the allocation of private members' business. I am not a part
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