Page 2632 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 8 August 1990
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Mr Collaery: It is draft legislation. No report has been brought down yet.
MRS GRASSBY: No, but we can see exactly the way they would like to go with it, thank you very much. As a member of that committee, there is no way I can agree to that. So I do not want to see the Standing Committee on Conservation, Heritage and Environment just become a rubber stamp for the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee. So I support my colleague Wayne Berry on the amendment to make this committee one of six members, which means that I would like to see one of our members on that committee.
MR DUBY (Minister for Finance and Urban Services) (4.51): Mr Acting Speaker, I think it should be pointed out that the Committee on Conservation, Heritage and Environment currently consists of four members, two Government and two non-Government members. For various reasons it has been suggested that an odd number is the ideal number for a committee to work. For this reason the members of the Opposition somehow suspect that this is a method to stack committee numbers in favour of the Government. But how bright are they across there, Mr Acting Speaker? They propose that instead of going from four to five - and, of course, we will add one Government member to the committee - membership should be taken to six. Well, of course, if you want to do that, we will do that. We will just put two Government members extra on and we will have a majority of four to two.
When you think about it, how bright is it not to work that out - and that is from the numbers man, who is very proud of his ability of work with numbers, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. If you wish to go to six, I guess we could go to six, but I can assure you that if we do go to six we will simply put two more Government members onto the committee instead of one. I think we would be better off saving Mr Berry's face, rejecting his amendment, and increasing the size of the committee from four to five.
MR KAINE (Chief Minister) (4.53): Mr Acting Speaker, I would like to participate in the debate because personally I like odd numbers. Odd numbers are very nice numbers - threes, fives, sevens and nines.
Mr Stevenson: And ones!
MR KAINE: Yes, and ones. When you have odd numbered committees, you get odd people on committees. If you look at the committees at the moment, they are all odd numbered except one, and every one of those committees has got some odd people on it. But when you move to even numbers they are not very attractive, fours and sixes and eights, and I do not like them at all - even twos. When you get an even numbered committee, you get even-
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