Page 1150 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 1991
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Mr Speaker, in 1990 I introduced two matters of public importance which covered the moving through the Assembly of Bills which had been, or which had been attempted to be, passed in less than 30 days. I believe that we should operate as a democracy; the will of the people should be heard on these matters. Indeed, when we look at the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary's definition of democracy, we see that it says:
Government by the people; that form of government in which the sovereign power resides in the people, and is exercised either directly by them or by officers elected by them.
I certainly think those "officers elected by them", in this case the members of the ACT Legislative Assembly, should heed the will of the people and not attempt to introduce laws into the ACT Assembly, unless they are genuine emergency Bills, without allowing a minimum of 30 days.
There are practical reasons why this should be done, and I list seven of them. The first is that consultation with affected groups and individuals would be allowed. The second is that there would be time for such groups to liaise with their members, MLAs, and perhaps Federal MPs, and to arrange any meetings that may be considered necessary. The third point is that there would be consideration of the full effects of, and alternatives to, the proposed legislation. The fourth point is that there would be researched and balanced reporting by the media. The fifth point is that it would allow the time for research, consideration and debate of the Bills by all MLAs, particularly those who are not government members and therefore do not have early notification of the presentation of Bills. The sixth point is that it would allow time for the assessment of the proposed legislation by the Scrutiny of Bills and Subordinate Legislation Standing Committee. The seventh point is that it would allow time for the research, drafting and discussion of amendments.
In this particular case, Mr Moore has a number of amendments that he is moving; but he has had to work long through the night and this morning in an attempt to rush something together so that he would have time to present those amendments in this Assembly today. I am sure that Mr Moore is perfectly happy to work hard, as are other members in this Assembly; but amendments should not have to be rushed through. In matters of legislation - and this is the most important thing we do in this Assembly - full and adequate time should be allowed for discussion of the matters, for public consultation, so that the final laws that are passed are the best legislation that all members of this Assembly can possibly enact.
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