Page 892 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 1990
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sure, some of us have other responsibilities and some of us may feel bound by principles and policies and programs which have been worked out elsewhere.
I well realise that in the case of the Labor Party, for example, often programs are deliberately set down in another place and have to be carried out here, but in our practical experience we find that on our committees here that has not been a great difficulty. One could give many examples. I do not believe that one's individual conscience should be subordinate to a corporate view taken elsewhere without reference to the evidence before a committee. I do agree, however, that if a grouping has a certain conclusion or a certain policy then an individual has a loyalty to that grouping. If, however, there is not a certain policy then I think the individual must, above all, listen to the evidence on the committee and he or she must, in cooperation with other individuals on that committee, come to a corporate view as a committee.
The work of committees would be made nonsensical if committee members arrived at a committee, all of them with their minds made up. I do recognise it is never easy to wear these multiple hats and have these multiple responsibilities, but it is surely a normal condition of life and we all have to find a happy way to do the best we can in the circumstances.
I come therefore, following on from that, to the question of members of the Alliance Government being on and chairing committees if they are also Executive Deputies. There are surely too few of us to call for exclusions or restrictions, whether on membership or on chairmanships. My own experience, echoed I am sure by others, is that chairmen do their very best to be fair-minded on both sides of the Assembly. I recognise there can be conflicts of interest. In the experience of the last year, as I perceive it, that has been at a minimum. I believe that someone who is the chairman of a committee has a very great responsibility to be a fair-minded, independent chairman on behalf of the whole committee. That sometimes means he or she has got to be very careful how he or she wears his or her hat.
I am very glad indeed, I re-echo this, to hear that members of the Labor Party will now be more widely involved on committees. I join with the Leader of the Opposition in acknowledging the work done so well by Mr Wood. They should be very grateful to him. I note that on some committees we have agreed on some issues and have disagreed on others, but such varied views have been put forward and recorded reasonably and responsibly. It is surely our general experience in this Assembly over the past year that that has been the case on committees - that we have not had great flaring rows or disagreements, even although there may be disagreements on particular matters. In that case, of course, dissenting reports may be given.
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