Page 898 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
perform. I know that from personal experience, and I think anyone who has ever worked on a committee or on a range of committees knows the hours that these committee staff do put in. I have been in here at 8 o'clock on Sunday mornings and, lo and behold, who is happily working away? It is the committee staff. They are there long after I have left at 5 o'clock that afternoon, too. It must be remembered that they are not on overtime or anything like that either.
That brings me to the final point. I am concerned that people on the other side of the house seem to have this vendetta against Executive Deputies. They seem to have indicated in their speeches today that they have no real understanding of what the Executive Deputies do do. Somehow they are of the impression that the Executive and the committees are locked into an adversarial role where it is a constant struggle and tussle between those two positions and that someone who has expertise in an area and is providing assistance to a particular Minister should not be involved in that committee. I commend the report, and look forward to the introduction of the additional committee.
MR KAINE (Chief Minister) (5.05): Mr Speaker, I will be quite brief, but there are one or two things that I would like to say on this matter. The first thing that I would like to comment on is the concern that I have had for over three months now at the approach of the Opposition to this question of committees and their constant imputation of bad will, bad faith on the part of the Government.
Back in December when we took the Government it was necessary for the four members who are now Ministers to be removed from committees. We put forward an interim restructuring of the committees in order to achieve that. At no time since then has any Labor member of the Opposition, other than Mr Wood, agreed to serve on a committee. It seems to be based on some notion that somehow the new Government was imposing some undesirable form of committee on the Assembly. I submit that that was ill-founded and always has been, but to come to the new proposals that are now before us as a result of this committee, there is again this imputation that somehow the Government is imposing its will on these committees.
It is asserted that it is doing it in a number of ways. Mr Speaker, I made my submissions to you, which have found their way into the committee, and I proposed three things. I proposed an amalgamation of two committees. That has not been recommended by the procedures committee. I, personally, do not believe that we need both a legal affairs committee and a scrutiny of Bills committee, but the procedures committee has recommended both. I believe that three members would suffice on any committee. The procedures committee has recommended otherwise in relation to two out of the six committees. For anybody to assert that I have somehow implanted my imprint on the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .