Page 900 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 1990
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closed doors. She completely ignores the prescriptions in our own standing orders, which, in turn, are derived directly from the procedure of the Commonwealth Parliament on this matter. Simply because the procedures committee did not accept some of her recommendations, she has therefore asserted that the Government is operating behind closed doors. Again this is regrettable and I think it is most unfortunate that she continues to impute this bad faith to members of the Government, when it is indeed her own actions that speak of bad faith.
I do not think that I need say any more on this matter. I think that it is time to get on with adopting the recommendations of this committee. If we do not individually and personally agree with all of them, but the Assembly determines that we will go ahead on that basis, so be it. That is the position that the Government adopts. That is the position that I adopt, and I only hope and trust that the Leader of the Opposition and her absent friends are prepared to accept the same basis and get on with it.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Stefaniak): I call Mr Prowse.
MR PROWSE (5.12): I will be brief. I would just like to thank all members of the Assembly, those present, I might add, for their thoughts and for participating in this, as one of the most significant debates before this fledgling Assembly. I am disappointed, and regard it as beyond the pale, that the three major members of the Labor Party are absent. I cannot understand their logic. This was an Assembly debate, where members who have participated willingly, and at length, in these committees, have laid their souls on the table. They have tried to present to the now Opposition the positions they found themselves in during committee debate and investigation. They did this for the education of the Labor members so that they could understand and participate fully in the workings of this Assembly on behalf of the people of Canberra and the ACT.
It is ridiculous to put partisan politics into a situation where we are serving the public and this is what the committee structure is on about. I will say no more, except once again to state my dismay at the lack of interest shown by the Labor members. To several questions raised on the submission that I made to the Assembly via the committee I would note that some of my recommendations were overturned by the committee, and that is as it should be.
As chairman of that committee it is open to me to produce the report of the findings of the committee members and so we find that with the social policy and education and community affairs committees I proposed the variation to bring them together as one community services committee. It was necessary simply because of the cost of running two committees. We have to recognise that there are funding limitations that we are all bound to recognise, and
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