Page 4126 - Week 14 - Thursday, 25 October 1990
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MR KAINE: I just do not understand it. How low will this man go before he finally shuts up, Mr Speaker?
Mr Jensen: Lower than a snake's belly, Chief Minister.
MR KAINE: Yes; well, you cannot get much lower than that. There are matters of great concern as to the involvement of the judges of our court system in the proceedings of other related courts. It is a matter of grave importance, and it is a matter that has to be addressed. It talks about judicial tenure and the independence of the judiciary. I know that the judges of the Supreme Court are very concerned that unless this legislature makes some specific provision they will perhaps not have the same protection and the same independence under self-government that they currently enjoy, because there will be no constitutional arrangements such as those currently applying to them to govern their relationships with the legislature and the Executive under self-government once the Supreme Court transfers. These are matters of very grave concern. They have to be dealt with, they have to be discussed, and we have to be sensitive to the interest of the judges concerned.
Mr Berry: We are.
Mr Moore: We are.
MR KAINE: If these matters are not raised for public discussion - and old Gumshoe himself over here and the mouth, Mr Moore, criticise us for not putting things out for consultation - how else are they going to be addressed? Do Mr Gumshoe and Michael Moore want to get in a back room and discuss it amongst themselves? Is that what they are on about? I do not mind them doing that if they like. But the result will be that, as always on every major issue, they will make no contribution to the debate in this house; they will make no contribution to the public debate. All they will do is sit there like a couple of eight-year-old schoolgirls and titter and mutter amongst themselves and make their funny little asides which, incidentally, are mostly recorded on the Hansard tape and will make interesting reading one of these days.
Instead of them sitting over there tittering, having a little laugh amongst themselves and having a little snigger with all the other little eight-year-old girls, they might make a positive contribution to this debate one of these days - if we all hang around long enough. But I doubt it, because they are not interested in doing that. All they want to do is sit over there, be critical and hope that somehow some journalist will pick up some smart remark they make and they will get a headline in the newspapers. That is their ambition.
Mr Moore: You have only two minutes left. You had better start saying something.
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