Page 2903 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 August 1990
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Yesterday there were four Bills approved by this house that were introduced last week, and it could be said of those particular Bills that there were no major matters of import. They were basically introducing the ACT powers transferred from the Federal Government. However, there were some important matters in those Bills and one of them was whether or not matters should be determined by the Assembly or by Ministers. Under two of the Bills there was an allowance that fees could be set by the Minister, and I know that increasingly there are people who are concerned that this happens. They feel all matters should be debated before the Assembly, or all matters of regulations and so on should be debated before the Assembly or included in Bills.
So, what do we have in Canberra? We have a situation where people are greatly concerned about lack of consultation. We have a situation where many people, if you ask them - and I have done it again and again - simply do not know that some Bills that have been passed through this Assembly have ever been introduced, let alone what their content is. They simply do not know they exist. This is not only people who are not concerned personally with them, this is also those people that are concerned. This is why point 1 of my MPI talks about allowing the time for fair and adequate consultation with affected groups and individuals. Fair and adequate consultation is not a few days. People need time to find out about the matter, to have it reported in the media and then to discuss it within their own groups. One could not necessarily expect them to call emergency meetings and get everybody along. These things would normally be brought up the next time they got together.
Point 2 goes on to say, "time for such groups to liaise with their members, members of the Legislative Assembly and members of Parliament". Indeed, if local constituents do not feel that a matter is being correctly attended to by MLAs in this Assembly, they have the right to go along and speak to their Federal members. If someone happens to be away for a few days, should they be denied that right? I think we need to put far more emphasis on consultation with people in Canberra. It is not mainly what we talk about; it is the laws which are passed that have major effects. We can discuss matters of public importance, move motions and various other things, but finally the laws are made by Bills enacted in this parliament. It is those Bills which should be given time for adequate and fair discussion by all concerned.
My point 3 talks about the consideration of the full effects and alternatives to the proposed legislation. The fact that legislation is proposed in this house does not necessarily mean that there are not other possibilities. Once again, I think the schools issue could well apply. What we need to do is to have open consultation to allow members in this Assembly time to get out to groups and individuals within the community to discuss with them the
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