Page 1946 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 May 1991
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During those discussions, almost the first words that I say are, "Now let us get one thing straight: I have no executive responsibility. I and the members of the department are here to listen to what your concerns are, and then they will be passed on to the Chief Minister so that he can make his executive decision, his responsible decision". So, there is never any doubt, Mr Deputy Speaker, in the minds of those people who come to see me in my capacity assisting the Chief Minister in those areas that I will keep him informed as to what is going on. That is how the system operates and how it has always operated. I believe that that is quite appropriate, and it provides a clear opportunity for the community of the ACT to get their issues and concerns put directly to government.
Let us turn to another issue that Mr Moore raised.
Mr Moore: Let us do the letterhead first.
MR JENSEN: The letterhead that is used is that of the Office of the Chief Minister or, in the case of Mr Duby, for whom I also act in my capacity of Executive Deputy, it comes from that office. But that does not necessarily mean that I am actually operating directly with authority. I am passing the information on to a particular person who writes and seeks a response. That person gets a response in that way.
Let us go back to the suggestion that somehow or other I am a government pawn when I operate on committees. Mr Wood knows full well that that is not the case. I always operate very independently on committees, as can be seen by this committee report. You will also recall that at one stage Mr Humphries sought from the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Infrastructure some information - an off the cuff or informal comment from the committee in relation to Stage '88. Mr Deputy Speaker, I personally was not prepared to do that because I did not believe that it was appropriate. It was agreed by the members of the committee at the time, and a formal inquiry was initiated by the committee because of that. As we all know, the recommendation of that committee was entirely different from what the Government wanted and expected.
That is one prime example of the fact that I am prepared to express my point of view, as I did in this document - Mr Moore will acknowledge that - and the point of view of my group, the Residents Rally, which was at variance with some of the suggestions and policy in the legislation. So, Mr Deputy Speaker, to suggest that I slavishly followed the legislation that was put before us and did not consider it from my point of view is, quite frankly, a nonsense. I will continue to operate in an independent way within the committees, as the members will no doubt find out over the rest of the period of this Assembly. So, on that basis, I totally reject the suggestion of bias - - -
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