Page 4359 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 21 November 1990
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MR BERRY: I am not frightened of anything that you might be threatening me with, Mr Collaery. The fact of the matter is that you have set out to usurp the role of the Administration and Procedures Committee which you charged to do a certain job.
Mr Kaine: No, you are. They are recommending a course of action that you, as a committee member, are objecting to. You are usurping the role of the committee.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, members! Order!
MR BERRY: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The fact of the matter is that the Administration and Procedures Committee has made a majority recommendation that the Government has decided not to accept. If the Government did accept the Administration and Procedures Committee recommendation and accepted the position of the Opposition that that advice should be back in this place by next week in order that we can act on the matter - because we are confident that the advice will be the same as Mr Brazil's - the Government would be in the same position as they are in today; namely, ducking for cover.
Mr Jensen: What will you do if it is not, Wayne? Will you accept it if it is not?
Mr Kaine: The Government has not rejected anything.
MR BERRY: Ducking for cover, Mr Jensen. The Government, Mr Kaine, has rejected the advice of the Administration and Procedures Committee because it has already sought advice from a queen's counsel. It has not even waited for the Administration and Procedures Committee interim report. The Government, of course, joined with the rest of the members in this Assembly to send it off to the Administration and Procedures Committee. What duplicity! What double standards!
One of the things that are enjoyed in the democratic procedures that are often thought about on the Government side of the chamber but, in fact, supported on the Opposition side is that there is room for dissent. That, of course, has been my position in relation to the Administration and Procedures Committee. I think the Government should have accepted the first advice because it was good advice. They chose not to accept that advice and went on another course.
The Government has charged the Administration and Procedures Committee to come to a decision and will not even support that decision. The issue before the Assembly is the delaying tactic which concerns the process of the Schools Authority (Amendment) Bill, the Royal Canberra Hospital Bill, the Human Rights Bill, and the Landlord and Tenant (Rental Bonds) Bill, but, strangely enough, not the Ainslie Transfer Station Bill. The Ainslie Transfer Station Bill is the one that features in the advice to the queen's counsel which the Government has sought to - - -
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