Page 2351 - Week 08 - Friday, 21 June 1991
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like this are done in other parliaments does not make it necessary for us to slavishly follow that way in this parliament. I think, in fact - - -
Mr Moore: There are two "5Bs". You will need to clarify your point.
MR JENSEN: In case there is any concern about clarification, I would propose that the motion put forward by Mr Stefaniak be amended to read: "Omit standing orders 5A and 5B" - full stop. Is there any problem with that now? Is everyone happy with that? I will move to omit all words after "5B", first occurring. I do not see any problem; I just want to get the strategy right. I move:
That all words after "5B" (first occurring) be omitted.
We have an Assembly that is made up of a minority government; one group which has five members, albeit coming into this Assembly with four; another group with two; the Residents Rally, of course, with three, albeit coming in with four; Mr Stevenson, elected as a representative of the Abolish Self Government Coalition; and, of course, Mr Moore, an Independent.
It was unfortunate that today Mr Moore made some comments in relation to this matter. Mr Moore made some comments about selling out. I seem to recall standing on the same platform as Mr Moore in front of a rather large banner. On that rather large banner were two rather large robots. One had "ALP" emblazoned upon its chest and the other one had "Lib" emblazoned across its chest. There was, I seem to recall, one of those beautiful big circles with a big diagonal stripe through the middle, basically indicating to the people of Canberra that we, the Residents Rally, supported the abandonment, if you like, of the two-party system. Mr Moore was one of those who supported that.
It is most interesting to see that Mr Moore has stood up here today and indicated quite clearly that he is prepared to support this sort of machine, if you like - the machinations between the two major parties in our Assembly. I think it is important to remember that the Assembly in its current format is not a normal Australian-type assembly with a major party having the government and a coalition - in the case of the Federal parliament - forming under a coalition agreement to be the opposition.
These arrangements, of course, operate all around Australia. Only a couple of parliaments have a different arrangement, with the balance of power being held by a group of Independents in the case of Tasmania, and, in the case of New South Wales, one Independent supported by four others who have banded together and produced the document on which we based our proposal for the formation of a new style of government system in the ACT. Such a style of government would, I suggest, be much more suited to the
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