Page 1188 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 1991
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Mr Berry: On a point of order: The motion is still before the house and it seems to me appropriate that this personal explanation should be dealt with after - - -
MR HUMPHRIES: You do not want to hear the apology?
Mr Berry: Indeed, I would be quite happy to hear it; but I think that, as a matter of order, it ought to be dealt with after the debate.
MR SPEAKER: I uphold your objection, Mr Berry. If anyone else is wishing to speak, we will do that at the end of the debate.
MR COLLAERY (Deputy Chief Minister) (3.53), in reply: I rise to close this little debate. We are adopting a very cooperative approach on drafting with the Opposition. I am sure members will recall Mr Connolly's remarks yesterday in relation to the assistance that the Law Office has given in relation to his Subordinate Legislation Bill. I do not think we need to get into this kind of debate, Mr Speaker, simply because Mr Berry is embarrassed about a Bill that he introduced yesterday. The legislation timetable is an honest attempt by the Government to put forward a very straightforward account of its intentions in the area of legislation.
One thing has troubled me constantly in government, and that is that there is a view abroad that governments are measured merely by their legislation program; that it is a kind of scoreboard of success or failure. A great deal of work is done apart from the bringing in and the passage of legislation. I say that for both members in government and members in opposition. A great deal of our work is done on a constituent basis. A great deal of our work - often as far as Ministers are concerned - is done every sitting day when we do a full day's work with our ministerial submissions, quite apart from the passage of legislation.
I enjoin the Opposition - if they are going to make comments on our list - to acknowledge that they themselves do a lot of work apart from their own preparation of private members' Bills, such as it has been. Similarly, they should accord the same courtesy to the Government.
Mr Berry: They are all jittery because there is too much private members' business.
MR COLLAERY: There is no jitteriness on our part. As my colleague Mr Humphries correctly pointed out, we simply have put priority settings there so that the Bill schedules can be organised by the Cabinet office. The Opposition, from its short experience in government, should know that that is a recognised method.
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