Page 673 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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MR CONNOLLY: I certainly withdraw in respect of the capital works report. I thought that on the fences report there was considerable disagreement between two of the members who participated. It took so long to emerge that one tended to forget what it actually said at the end of 12 months on such a trivial issue.
MR SPEAKER: Under the circumstances, is that a withdrawal?
MR CONNOLLY: Yes, I withdraw the suggestion that on all occasions the members have disagreed. Are we happy? Very good.
Mr Moore raised a point of some significance in relation to the proposed reporting date. It has been said repeatedly by Government spokespersons that the Government is looking very seriously at consolidating this package of Bills fairly dramatically - moving from the present five Bills possibly to two or three Bills. That is a matter that the Opposition again has welcomed. That is consistent with the spirit in which members of this Assembly should be approaching this legislation, but it does mean that it is very likely that the Bill that is finally before this house will differ dramatically from the exposure drafts. That is an extremely important reason why a select committee ought to have a longer period provided in its terms of reference to look at this legislation.
The Chief Minister was very disingenuous in his assertion that Mr Berry's motion is a delaying tactic and that it will force the Assembly to slow down on this Bill. He attempted to suggest that the phrase which says, "The committee shall report by 10 September 1991" reads, "The committee shall not report earlier than 10 September 1991" - and of course there is a world of difference between those two views.
The problem with an April reporting date is that - and I am not being in any way disrespectful to the professionalism of the Government Law Office - the task of consolidating these exposure drafts into one Bill that is capable of being presented to this house is a massive one and I seriously doubt whether it would be possible for the legislation, as the Government proposes to introduce it, to even get before this committee. So the committee that the Government is proposing will at best be looking at the original exposure drafts and the Government's revised exposure drafts and public comment on those two rounds. That is a very different matter from looking at the legislation.
Mr Kaine: And the final draft.
MR CONNOLLY: The Chief Minister says, "the final draft"; but is he assuring this house that this revision, this consolidation of the present five Bills into perhaps two or three Bills - or even one Bill; that is going further than
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