Page 1940 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 May 1991
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Mr Deputy Speaker, we would be a much better Assembly if this sensible change in arrangements took place and Executive Deputies ceased to chair the committees in relation to which they have executive responsibility. They could still make a significant contribution, but there would not be this position in which the chair of the planning committee writes to members of the public as Executive Deputy for planning and on letterhead of the Office of the Chief Minister, thus implying clearly some connection with the Executive Government. That impression is misleading, but it is still there.
On the question of bias, the point is not so much the strict legal reality as to whether there is a conflict; it is whether there is an appearance of conflict. I have not heard any argument from the Government that there is no appearance of conflict. I hope that we can eventually resolve this problem.
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (3.35): Mr Deputy Speaker, I have heard these arguments put several times now by those opposite, and I cannot agree with the points that have been made. I have heard them time and again. I simply cannot see the basis for that claim.
Mr Connolly: You are putting a loyal party case.
MR HUMPHRIES: There is no ideological proposition that we are enforcing here, which we have to see through to the end. There is no burning desire to see this particular position put forward, except that we want the committees to operate as they see fit and as best suits those committees.
I have to say that I cannot see the argument that there is some lack of public confidence in the operation of those committees because Executive Deputies happen to chair them, or are members of them. Let us face facts: If the Labor Party ceased to make this an issue in this place, the issue would be totally and absolutely dead in the community. Nobody else is concerned about Executive Deputies chairing committees of the Assembly. Having said that, I am sure that they will find somebody who will say so. But the fact is, Mr Deputy Speaker, that if you went to the marketplace of this city and said to 100 people, "What do you think about Executive Deputies chairing committees of the Assembly?", they would go "Huh?". They would not be interested. People simply are not concerned about it.
If that is the case, if there is nobody with concerns about this matter, where do we get the argument that we need to be changing? On what basis do we need to start to change? Perhaps some courts of law would be interested in this and would step in and say, "No, it is improper for Executive Deputies to be chairing those committees for the reason that there is some suspicion attaching to the reports of those committees by reason of the chairmanship of those committees".
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