Page 519 - Week 02 - Thursday, 22 February 1990
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Infrastructure Committee when he is the Executive Deputy responsible for that matter and has made many statements in this house on matters to do with planning and infrastructure.
I think it is time that Mr Kaine tried to grasp the point that we are making with regard to the role of Executive Deputies, with regard to their location within the Assembly precincts and not within the Executive precincts and also with regard to their role on committees. That is a very important point, and I think that his constant dismissal of it really does not do credit to this Assembly. The role of Executive Deputies is one that he obviously places some store by; he has given that job to every member of his team, and it is a role that quite clearly has still not been thoroughly worked out.
There is still some confusion amongst members of the Government on the role of Executive Deputies, and there is clearly enormous confusion in how they are to operate in this Assembly. So I would ask him not to dismiss the matter, but to deal with it genuinely as Mr Wood has done, perhaps not in a way of scoring political points on it, but simply by acknowledging the importance of this Assembly, the importance of all members knowing their role, and knowing also the different roles of the Executive and of the Legislature.
DR KINLOCH (5.10): I speak, as always, for myself, but also on this occasion for my colleagues on this arc of the chamber. I endorse Mr Kaine's comments and would like to add to them, that there are some practicalities involved. In the case of two of us, for example, we are part of a party group which has some of its staff in one place and some of its staff in another. We are looking for some practical solutions for moving, and practical, pragmatic ways to do our business more effectively. That is part of it. I really see no great problem in being on the fifth floor.
I do, however, recognise the sense of Mr Wood's distress that some of us will not be meeting downstairs, and I want to assure him that especially in view of the fact that the Secretariat is on the first floor, that we will be up and down. We also have colleagues and friends on the first floor, and above all, the thing we are forgetting is that our wonderful Parliamentary library is on the first floor, with that delightful lady Anne Lange who is of such help to us at all times. On the matter of committee members, Executive Deputies, and indeed Ministers, I would ask those who are interested to refer to my comments this morning which will be in Hansard.
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