Page 886 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 1990
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something to that effect - then they would be able to have that prerogative of excluding members. I think it is an important prerogative for them to have but, by and large, the onus should be the other way around - to exclude members who should have a right to attend unless the wish is otherwise.
That takes us to the other objection, which is the notion of the Executive Deputies. I have no concern about having Executive Deputies serving on either select or standing committees with me. The concern which Mr Humphries seemed to miss in his speech was in having an Executive Deputy with responsibilities for advising the Minister on a particular committee. That is the concern that I believe the Chief Minister was raising and that is a concern that I have because I can see a conflict of interests there. There could be a conflict of interest between the executive level of government and between the Assembly which, as Mr Humphries said, serves the purpose, amongst other things, of keeping an eye on executive government. It is totally inappropriate to have a member, in some cases an Executive Deputy, chairing the committee that they have responsibility for within the executive government. That is the concern.
Mr Kaine: They do not have responsibility, Michael. You do not understand executive government.
MR MOORE: I do. The Chief Minister interjects about not understanding executive government. What they have a responsibility for is to advise the Minister. I quite accept that. You have made that quite clear.
Mr Kaine: They have no executive responsibility.
MR MOORE: They do not wear the responsibility of decision making. I accept that. However, the closeness of their relationship on the particular issue when advising obviously has some concern for members of the Opposition. It obviously provides some concern.
Now, I am not being bloody-minded about this at all. I have no objection, for example, to having Dr Kinloch on the planning committee. I have no concern about Mr Jensen being on the Social Policy Committee or about them chairing those. That is not the problem. The problem arises when there is a direct relationship between the Executive Deputy and the Minister. That relationship is a very close one. They have access to information and access to documents and influence over those things. This is particularly a problem when on almost all those committees the Government also has the numbers. I am not even objecting to the notion of the Government having the numbers because parties and groups are represented in our standing orders and by tradition according to the size of their representation, but I am saying, in this particular instance, that the Government should really reconsider the notion of having their own representatives as Executive Deputies
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