Page 3716 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 15 October 1991
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acknowledged and were aware that there may be some refinements and finesses that could occur. There has been strong community interest and involvement in this legislation.
This legislation, in its present stage, let alone its better stage, which it will be in once the amendments that the Government has foreshadowed are passed, owes a lot to the efforts of a dedicated group in the Canberra community who have worked on this for some time. It would be inappropriate to go through a long list of people who have been involved; but it is appropriate to mention Peter Sutherland, Robyn Creyke, Warwick Everson and Chris Staniforth, four members of the Canberra community - although there have been many others - who have put a lot of hours and a lot of effort into getting the legislation to where it is and making improvements to it.
We were keen, as Mr Humphries accused us of being, when this legislation was first introduced, to get it to the in-principle stage of debate. That was because we believed that there was in-principle agreement to what this legislation is on about. That is abundantly clear from tonight's comments. Everybody agrees that the former situation was appalling. Everyone agrees that reform is necessary. And the view of the Labor Government was, "Let us get the legislation on the table, let us get agreement at the in-principle stage and let us sort out the details later".
I am very proud of the process by which those details have been worked out. The Labor Government, on this legislation, as on all legislation it will present, does not adopt a dogmatic approach. We are committed to reform and we are committed, as Ms Follett has repeatedly said, to consultation. We are here to govern in the interests of the Canberra community. We will put up a proposal of legislation which we believe is advancing the community interests, and, if community groups have concerns or views or suggestions, we are keen to talk.
On this legislation, when it was introduced on 12 September, we had discussions with the relevant community groups that have been most concerned about this. I sat down and spent some time with community groups and agreed even then that we would be looking at accepting some of their proposals for reform. On others I explained that we had some problems.
The process that has occurred this afternoon is a process that the Government is certainly proud of; that is, we have provided senior officers who have been involved in the development of this legislation. Mr Bailey, of the Attorney-General's Department, who has been involved in this from a very early stage, and Mr Clifford, of
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