Page 3419 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 19 September 1990
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else interjects; yet you are the most constant interjector on this floor. Please desist. Chief Minister, please proceed.
MR KAINE: I think also we should be looking at precedent. It is interesting that Ms Follett sees us as establishing some sort of new level, some new standard, some precedent in this. It is very interesting that the Commonwealth Parliament has no ethics committee, the New South Wales Government has no ethics committee, the Victorian Parliament has no ethics committee, the South Australian Parliament has no ethics committee, the Tasmanian Parliament has no ethics committee, the Queensland Parliament has no ethics committee, and the Western Australian Parliament has no ethics committee.
Mrs Grassby: I think we need it more than they do, anyway.
MR KAINE: Well, there is a value judgement about the people that are in this Assembly. Obviously Mrs Grassby believes that the people in this Assembly have less integrity than those in other parliaments throughout Australia, and I think it says something about Mrs Grassby's attitude to life that she believes that to be true. I do not believe it to be true and I do not believe that we need such a committee any more than any other parliament in Australia does. In my view, it is an extravagance and a smart ploy by the members of the Labor Party, who do not care about how much things cost but say, "Let us do it anyway". It is typical - particularly when an existing committee could perform these functions just as well. We have an Administration and Procedures Committee that could take on these terms of reference just as easily as a new committee could, and I personally - - -
Ms Follett: Move an amendment.
MR KAINE: We will. I personally believe that the members of the Administration and Procedures Committee are quite competent to carry out this function. If Ms Follett had put forward a proposal that the terms of reference of that committee be changed to take on this function I would have supported it wholeheartedly, because that would not have entailed any additional cost and it could have been done quite simply.
There are many reasons why the motion is suspect. First of all, I think it is a smart alec political thing. It has nothing to do with the reality or whether we really need it. The Leader of the Opposition across the house wants to project for herself an image of being Ms Clean. Well, she may be or she may not be, and I make no judgment about that any more than I make a judgment about the other 16 members of the Assembly. But I do not believe that we need it. I do not believe that she has put forward a case for the establishment of such a committee.
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