Page 891 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 1990
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we are discussing. The 13 of us have to share many tasks. There are not enough hours in the day in two ways. There is the problem of getting members together in meetings whether during sitting or non-sitting weeks and we congratulate our secretaries on being able to do that, to some degree. But I am much more concerned about the problem of time to read and analyse the great bulk of material which appears before some of our committees. When people ask, "Are you enjoying being in the Legislative Assembly?" and so forth, often I think one should say, "Yes, indeed, but if there were an extra day in the week it would help".
Mr Duby: We will pass a law.
DR KINLOCH: Yes, we will pass a law! We will have a special committee on it. We should recognise and build into our timetables great chunks of time in which to read the immense amount of material that comes before us. I am not complaining about that; I am just saying that often people assume that just because we have not got the morning full of appointments that morning therefore is not being used. I think we should deliberately build in reading time and analysis time and judgment time.
We will not shirk our duties, although I must say I have been tempted to concentrate on two rather than three or four committees. But we must expect to keep the size of those committees at a minimum working number, and I reluctantly accept the number three. At least you have the possibility of a majority. It is a good working number, and when it comes to making decisions it is a really effective number from the point of view of actually coming to conclusions.
I recognise, however, that some committees will need more members, partly because some members have a particularly keen interest in some areas of government. So I am happy to support the amendment on enlarging one crucial committee from three to four, and I hope Mr Moore will again find his place on the Conservation, Heritage and Environment Committee.
I would like to make a general statement about our individual roles on committees. In this Assembly we all wear many hats. Our first hat is as an individual MLA. From the Chief Minister to all of us who are backbenchers we all wear that hat and we have all got responsibilities as a result of that. Secondly, we are all, I think even in the case of those who are one-member groups, members of a political grouping of some kind with constituents outside the Assembly. The third hat is as members either of a government or of an opposition; and fourthly, we are members of the corporate body of the Assembly. This creates all kinds of difficulties. I believe, however, that committee members on committees are, above all, individuals making use of their analytical skills and their skills in judging matters in relation to evidence. To be
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