Page 4137 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 October 1991
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So, I want to argue that we have here, in this corner of the room, three people combined together who do indeed represent an opposition. We are not an opposition for the sake of being an opposition. We are happy to coalesce with those who put forward good Bills, whether in those chairs over there or those chairs here. We are happy to cooperate. Indeed, we have seen a lot of that cooperation this week, have we not? In that respect I pay tribute to Mr Connolly and Mr Collaery for working together on a whole number of Bills. I do want to say that, as I see it here, sitting here in a place of observation, what I see is an effective opposition with these three people here. I hope that another group will become a more effective opposition and we will work together in that way, but I do ask that there be equity for the opposition that exists here.
MR MOORE (11.43): Mr Speaker, if we were to vote in favour of Mr Collaery's Bill I believe that we would be taking a very short-term view for just a couple of months in order to change the system that operates in this Assembly. I think there would be some sense in adopting some of the ideas, at least to a certain extent, that Mr Collaery has suggested, if there was more time to go, if we were at the beginning of an Assembly with the type of make-up we have now.
I find it ironic that this Bill has been brought on at a time when Mr Collaery is no longer the deputy leader of a government, at a time when there is a personal interest as far as this goes. I can understand that, of course. Finding himself on the crossbench and finding that it is not so easy to keep up with all the legislation with a limited number of staff is a great motivation to follow this sort of thing through.
Mr Speaker, to support this Bill, however, would be to say that the arrangements that we have in a normal Westminster system are inappropriate not just for this Assembly but for the Assemblies that follow. It may well be that early next year those of us who are re-elected to this Assembly may determine that that is an appropriate approach or that there be an appropriate redistribution of the way that money is distributed in support of members' staff. That will be the appropriate time to consider this.
I believe that it is appropriate, at this stage, to take a longer-term view and to leave things at the status quo until we get an opportunity to see what is the more likely make-up of this Assembly after the next election. It seems to me that there will not be the same distribution of members and parties that we currently have, although none of us can predict exactly what is going to happen. So, I think it is appropriate that we wait until that time.
Mr Speaker, I also think it is important, at this stage, for members to try to retain as much stability as we possibly can. There is, of course, a temptation I see. The salary cap equalisation proposal that Mr Jensen kindly
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