Page 5077 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 27 November 1991
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That is certainly not an extreme viewpoint by any means. I personally think it should be quite a lot longer. I would make it at least two months, perhaps three months, for most Bills, so that members, people in the community and others have an opportunity to know what is happening.
Nevertheless, the large majority of people in Canberra do not agree with what is being done at this precise time in this Assembly - that Bills are being rammed through. As I said, some 30 are yet to be introduced. If the members of the Labor Party have their way, and they are their Bills, they will all be passed before Christmas - or on 17 December, which I believe is our last sitting day.
In that short space of time members who do not even know what Bills are going to be proposed are supposedly going to represent the will of the people of this community and debate these issues intelligently. It is one thing standing up and saying a few words; it is entirely another being able to do the research, go through Federal Hansards, go through our earlier Hansards, research what people said on the same Bill when they were not in power. There are many times when people without power in this Assembly make certain statements, but when they have power you find that they make different statements.
It is fairly obvious that members of the Assembly do not have the time to read the Bills fully, to research the Bills fully, to consider them. The ALP members of the Assembly have advance notice of Bills that are going to be put through. They could have their staff research these things for months as part of their ideological program on what is going to be done with people in Canberra. But the other MLAs get these things sprung on them.
It is very common for the Labor Party, notwithstanding their repeated and false claim "We consult", to do things without any concern whatsoever for members of the Assembly. That was highlighted just before lunch when the Labor Party tried to bring on a Bill that is scheduled for this afternoon, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Bill 1991. Trevor Kaine said that he did not know anything about it. Mr Collaery said that he had heard about it only 30 minutes before the time the Labor Party was supposedly going to bring it on. I had been spoken to about three-quarters of an hour before that by Mr Berry, and I said that it certainly was not suitable for me; if we were going to have extra time, it should be for private members' business. After all, it is an extension of the morning.
All too often, the Labor Party does not take any notice of the views of other people in this Assembly - if they consult with other people in the Assembly, which, unfortunately, often they do not. In the last few days we have had case after case where certain members of the Assembly did not know what the Labor Party had proposed, particularly when it went against what we had already agreed upon.
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