Page 3421 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 19 September 1990
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to be taken as it stands; rather, the proposal of Ms Follett says, at point 4:
the committee be required to prepare and report to the Assembly on an appropriate code of ethics for Members.
It is a process of consultation, of discussion amongst ourselves. That would be a valuable and unique experience for the members of this Assembly and if, as the Chief Minister says, it is not commonplace in parliaments across Australia, we could certainly give the lead to other bodies.
Mr Kaine: It is not only not commonplace, Bill; there is not a precedent.
MR WOOD: Well, there is a precedent, I might say, in the United States of America. If you have been following things there, you will know that the Speaker of the House of Representatives there recently lost his position because he was deemed to be unfit to hold that position by the Ethics Committee of the Congress. That is not a bad example, and that is an indication of the potential. I am not suggesting, Mr Speaker, that we want to target you at all, but that is what an ethics committee can do at a very extreme level.
I am delighted to see that this is a proposal to develop a code of ethics. I was interested that the Chief Minister in his speech was, reasonably enough, debating the issue. That is what we want; we want a debate on that issue. I am sure the ACT community would value that debate. I do not have to tell you, because you have eyes to read and ears to hear, that this Assembly is a long way from being well accepted in the ACT community. I suggest to you that this would be a very sensible measure to take to the community to increase the standing that we have. It is a very urgent measure that we should undertake.
The Chief Minister did debate the issue; that is all we want. He said that he does not disagree with many of the principles here; that is fine. Is he, then, going to suggest amendments? Why not have a select committee to look at this? If he is concerned about the allocation of resources, let us have a select committee that operates for a certain time only. I would prefer that to the suggestion that it be referred to the Administration and Procedures Committee because a select committee or a standing committee would give a specific focus to the issue. It would not be a matter of business amongst a dozen items of business. I think that specific focus would be very important.
The Chief Minister said that this measure would not pay off as the PRB, the Priorities Review Board, does. I think he has totally missed the concept of this measure, because this process and the establishment of a code of ethics
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