Page 392 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 21 February 1990
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effectively and efficiently in this area in the past. However, I would like at this stage to thank Mr Moore for seeking to refer this issue to an Assembly select committee - - -
Mr Berry: It was a joint effort.
MR JENSEN: He organised it, Mr Berry and you moved it. Okay? I thank Mr Moore for seeking to refer this issue to an Assembly committee, but Mr Wood, the mover of the motion we are debating at the moment, is the chairman of the Social Policy Committee, a committee which, as I recall, has not had its membership changed, with the exception of one.
Mr Wood: Not at all. There has been no change.
MR JENSEN: I am told there has been no change. So that particular committee has not been changed at all and it has continued with its operations. That committee has as part of its terms of reference - as has every standing committee in the Assembly - a provision to allow it to take on these sorts of issues and consider them as part of its process. It does not need a motion of this Assembly. All it needs is a motion of agreement within the committee and then members of the Assembly are advised that it proposes to take that on.
Mr Whalan: Who runs the committee?
MR JENSEN: Mr Wood is the chairman, Mr Whalan.
Mr Whalan: Have you got a balanced representation?
MR JENSEN: It has exactly the same balance as it had before, Mr Speaker. So let the Social Policy Committee take on this role if it so wishes. It does not need a specific reference. The Attorney-General has also authorised me to advise the house that he is prepared to provide for all Assembly members - - -
Mr Berry: But not the public.
MR JENSEN: Let me finish, Mr Berry, and I will tell you what it is about. He is prepared to provide for all Assembly members to receive a confidential briefing from the two departmental officials involved - similar to the sorts of briefings that were arranged by the Opposition when it was in government. We did not have the public involved in those meetings; they were meetings at which all Assembly members were briefed. I hope Opposition members will take up this offer, and that their attitude to it will not be anything like their attitude to the committees, which is very unfortunate. The offer is there and it stands. By the way, I understand that Mr Kaine has yet to receive an answer to the two letters that he sent to the Leader of the Opposition on a committee structure. Those are hollow words from the Opposition, Mr Speaker. It is
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