Page 1600 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 May 1990
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MR COLLAERY: I very much welcome Mr Connolly's question. It is historic, in case persons have not noted it. This is the first question in how many months?
Mr Kaine: Nearly six months.
MR COLLAERY: It is the first time in six months that I have been asked a question on the portfolio areas that I administer. I am delighted to receive this question.
Mr Moore: I asked you a question about corruption.
MR COLLAERY: I referred to the Opposition but, Mr Speaker, I do not regard Mr Moore as Opposition.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Please get to the point.
MR COLLAERY: Mr Speaker, yes, on 25 March, if my memory serves me correctly, I announced to the Assembly the intention to form a law reform commission. I can indicate to the house that it will be different, and I trust that it will not get the same treatment as it got for being different in the last few days. It will be different in that once again - and I will use the words that I used when I said that I wanted to look at court reform - it is a subject that will arouse a great deal of professional and community interest, and I will ensure that the proposals to be put forward to create that reform structure will receive the widest possible exposure for public discussion. That is a quote from the announcement that I made on 19 April about court reform.
The proposal is, briefly, that the committee comprise not simply lawyers. I will be proposing to my Cabinet colleagues that it comprise, for example, a representative of the ACT Council of Social Service. Approaches are in train to a variety of parties, including CARD, just to get our political and ideological balances right. I will not go through and enumerate all the parties. I believe that Mr Connolly will be quite interested in the model that I propose for a law reform committee. It is different from the lawyer-bound ones.
I welcome comment on the proposal. I will take him into my confidence on the proposed appointees, if he wishes, and we will discuss that. I asked my Law Office yesterday whether we have yet finalised the invitations. Ms Follett laughs. She is not interested; it is a joke. Mr Speaker, I have approached the involvement in politics that I have at the moment seriously, not from some immature basis. Ms Follett should listen to this matter. It is extremely important because this law reform committee will comprise, so far as I am concerned, a group of perhaps 10 or 11 representatives of the community - - -
Mr Berry: You're still guessing.
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