Page 3167 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 11 September 1991
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65.(1) An enactment, vote, resolution or question (any of which is in this section called a "proposal") the object or effect of which is to dispose of or charge any public money of the Territory shall not be proposed in the Assembly except by a Minister.
Subsection (2) goes on to say:
Subsection (1) does not prevent a member other than a Minister from moving an amendment to a proposal made by a Minister unless the object or effect of the amendment is to increase the amount of public money of the Territory to be disposed of or charged.
Mr Speaker, that is an Act of parliament - not this parliament - that cannot be overridden by the standing orders under which this Assembly currently operates. I think that is the pointed question. Mr Moore is seeking to try to suspend standing orders so that he can, in some way, shape or form, override the legislation which controls the operation of this Assembly.
I think that the point my colleague Mr Collaery has made is well made, and that is that any Act passed with the support of the Government opposite on this basis would be subject to challenge under section 65 of the self-government Act. It has nothing to do with the standing orders. It is section 65 of the self-government Act that is the question.
Mr Speaker, what we are saying is that the courts, as my colleague Mr Collaery has indicated, can always declare laws to be invalid. There is ample record of that. That is what the High Court of Australia is all about and it has done it on a number of occasions. Laws have been declared invalid because they do not meet the legislation requirement.
Mr Berry: It is Residents Rally chicanery more than anything. It is just chicanery from the Residents Rally.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR JENSEN: I did not hear that interjection, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: The interjection is from me. The time for this debate has expired.
MR MOORE (11.37): Mr Speaker, under standing order 131, having realised the wisdom of the argument and accepting that this motion can be brought on later, I am quite happy to seek leave of the Assembly to withdraw the motion at this stage.
Motion, by leave, withdrawn.
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