Page 4246 - Week 14 - Thursday, 24 October 1991
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Let us await the outcome of the discussions between the NCA, as an entity, the ministerial council which controls the NCA and to which the NCA is accountable, and the parliamentary joint committee to which the NCA is also accountable, and let us go with a generally agreed position rather than pre-empting those extremely sensitive negotiations. So, the Government reluctantly cannot accept Mr Collaery's amendment. While agreeing with the high principle on which it is based, we would urge caution in this case.
MR COLLAERY (11.53): Perhaps to assist members, I should respond. Mr Connolly's speech begs the question: If this delicate, amicable, behind the scenes discussion is to take place, why put the Bill on today, prior to the discussion? I want the house to know that there are members of the Labor persuasion pressing very strongly somewhere else in this country for what I am moving. I cannot go into those details; I have some confidentiality problems.
After 47 years in this country, many of them in public office, and many of them dealing with agencies of extreme sensitivity, I cannot agree with the words that Mr Connolly uses about trusting amicable agreements. I want to tell you, Mr Connolly, that 1 Treasury Place and a few other places where people meet and decide lots of things in this country are places of some unamicable agreements. The numbers do not always come out satisfactorily to everyone.
I want to hint to you, Mr Connolly, that you would be better off withdrawing this Bill, if that is the case; you would be better off deferring debate now, if you are concerned to that extent. I find it difficult to know why you are concerned to that extent because you did not, frankly, know anything about this less than an hour ago. That is not your fault, because I had not spoken to you. Such are the pressures in this Assembly.
As the Chief Minister recently acknowledged in my presence - I forget where - we are putting through an enormous amount of legislation. We are doing a lot of things in this Assembly, and members should not be overeager sometimes to crack the pace and get things through. I think the prudent course for you, Mr Connolly, would be to defer debate on this Bill at the present time.
His Honour Mr Justice Phillips is also interested in making sure that there is a better statutory regime within our own governing Acts for the publication of parliamentary committee material. As you all know here, we do not own our own destiny and we would be beholden to the Commonwealth forever to get some amendments to our governing legislation to allow our committees of parliament to have different regimes and procedures for publication of committee evidence.
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