Page 552 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I would just like to implore the Government to reconsider its position in relation to these committees and to ensure that action is taken to ensure the independence of the committees, not only by way of ensuring that the Executive Deputies responsible for the sorts of issues that the committees deal with are not chairpersons, but also by ensuring that the community can see that the Government intends to preserve the independence of the committee system from the Executive.
Debate (on motion by Mr Duby) adjourned.
PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE - STANDING COMMITTEE
Reference
MR JENSEN, by leave: I wish to inform the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Infrastructure has resolved to inquire into, and report on, the current design and siting policies for signage within the ACT. I have already commented on that in my previous remarks on the committee's report, and I do not propose to make any other comment.
MR MOORE, by leave: In the adjournment debate on 14 February, in reply to a comment by me about the failure of the planning committee to deal with the Schools Location Bill, Mr Jensen pointed out that there was a great deal to do, and that "the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee currently has six inquiries on the books".
Mr Jensen: Five.
MR MOORE: I am quoting Mr Jensen, although he interjects, "Five inquiries". We have just taken one off, so that made it five; now we have another one back, so it is six again. I think we can accept that. It seems entirely inappropriate that a committee that is working so badly - and the report that we have just heard reflects just how badly that committee is doing - should take on another task when it cannot even handle the ones that it has. Mr Jensen, as chair of that committee, has made it quite clear that it cannot handle the number of tasks that it has in front of it, and now the committee has resolved to take on another task.
What we have seen with the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee, thanks to the attitude of the Government, is an attack on the committee system as it is. Almost every other committee in this Assembly is working well, and compromises are made. This committee is an absolute disaster. That is made quite clear by the report that has just been brought down, and it is made quite clear by the fact that it cannot handle the tasks that it has before it - and here it is taking on another task. It is an absolute disaster.
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