Page 3432 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 19 September 1990
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committees replaced by the Administration and Procedures Committee - to which my colleague Mr Humphries proposes that this matter be referred for consideration.
So, as a member of that committee, I am quite happy to consider the issues raised by Ms Follett in the motion that she has put forward today, but I do not believe that what she proposes - a separate standing committee - is appropriate for an Assembly of this size.
MR BERRY (11.23): I was not going to speak on this matter, but I have been prompted to by some of the things that have been raised by Mr Jensen and other speakers. I must say that I was most surprised at the twitchiness of Government members during the debate on this matter, because it seems to me that the motion makes a whole lot of sense. There is nothing really in the motion that would upset me or any of my colleagues unless we had something in particular to worry about.
Of course, if you have something like that to worry about, there is a good reason why something needs to be done about it. There is a reason for this proposal. It was not just grabbed out of the air. Even if the Government members opposite want to remain deaf and blind on the issue, the fact of the matter is that this Assembly has an odour to it - and Labor intends to ensure that the image of the Assembly is improved in the community, irrespective of what Government members opposite do to prevent that from happening.
Now, we are faced with some realities. As I have said, the Assembly has an odour to it. All Assembly members wear, to a certain extent, the fact that a very high percentage of members amongst us here have criminal convictions - whether we like it or not. The fact that they are in the Government, of course, is pleasing to me, personally - from a political standpoint. But the fact of the matter is that this Assembly wears it.
There needs to be a committee that sets the standards and indicates to members that there are high standards to be observed in this place, because if we are ever going to win the support of the people of Canberra it is only going to be by improving the standards in this place. This sort of proposal will lead us to that position, without doubt - irrespective of the twitchiness of the members opposite. The fact of the matter is that if we do not do something the odour will not change.
The behaviour of the Government members opposite does not help us much, particularly when we come to debate these sorts of issues, because it seems to me that many of them are quite wary of these sorts of proposals. And being wary of them does not help us too much either, because the word gets out that Government members are wary about an ethics committee. Heavens above, I cannot believe it.
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