Page 5080 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 27 November 1991
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week, between 13 February 1990 and 12 December 1990 there were two; between 13 December 1990 and 27 November 1991 there were four - the Interim Planning (Amendment) Bill, which on my understanding was some sort of fix-it Bill to amend the interim planning legislation, the Rates and Land Tax (Amendment) Bill, the Rates and Land Tax (Amendment) Bill (No. 2), supported by members of this Assembly, and the Unlawful Games (Amendment) Bill introduced by Mr Jensen, which was basically about playing two-up on Anzac Day.
Those four Bills could be compressed into two minor ones and two Bills debated cognately. Using a Federal example, last week in the House of Representatives 22 Bills were guillotined in two days, one Bill receiving three minutes' consideration. Many exposure drafts have also been released.
Turning to Mr Stevenson's statistics, for the remainder of the year there are up to 46 government Bills, not all of which are considered essential; around 29 government Bills for introduction, 17 of which are being introduced this week. There are 10 in one package and two in others. So, there are 10 minor Bills in one package. Of those government Bills that are already before the Assembly, three packages of related legislation for cognate debate consist of seven Bills. Mr Stevenson has not complained significantly in the past. This is not a matter of public importance.
MR HUMPHRIES (3.21): I want to contribute briefly to this debate. It is quite clear that we have to be vigilant about the policies we adhere to when considering legislation and other business before the Assembly. I made comments about this this morning and I will not go over those comments again. I note that Mr Berry was comparing the ACT parliament's performance with the Federal Parliament's performance with respect to the time it took to consider Bills and the time it took to debate them. I was disturbed to hear that one Bill there received only three minutes' consideration. If the same party that did that in the Federal Parliament were to have a majority of members in this parliament, I wonder whether the same sorts of rorts would go on here. I sincerely hope not, but I do not express a view about whether it would happen or not.
I believe that the Assembly faces a major task with the many Bills that will come before it in the next few days. I give notice that the Liberal Party will not be considering Bills in haste. If it appears that more consideration is required, as happened twice today, when two Bills required more consideration than we had time to give them, we will be moving for the adjournment of those Bills or opposing them on the basis that they have not had the necessary time devoted to them to enable proper consideration by the Assembly.
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