Page 5304 - Week 16 - Thursday, 28 November 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MS FOLLETT: I wish Mr Kaine would calm down. I am not being intransigent on this matter, and I wish members would listen to what I say. I said that the Government has not considered this matter; I said that this is the Government's business. Both of those are facts. You should not read into those statements any more than the facts as I have stated them. I have no intention of making an appointment which would cause enormous distress to other members. It would be foolhardy to do so.
Mr Speaker, I really think that members are expressing an enormous lack of confidence in the ability of the Executive to make a proper appointment, and I find that quite unwarranted. I do not believe that any appointment has been made in the life of this Government that would give you grounds for such a lack of confidence. If there has been, I would like to hear about it. Of course, if it is the wish of members to be consulted on this appointment, I will consult you.
Mr Speaker, I really fail to see what the concern is about this. As Mr Kaine says, it is perfectly possible to make an acting appointment, and I really think his concerns here have been whipped up by Mr Collaery, in a quite unjustifiable way - in a way that is a slur upon the Executive, in a way that has no grounds whatsoever. We have not made any appointment which would give you the slightest cause for concern, and we will not on this occasion either; but I think it would be of grave concern for the Assembly to deny the Executive a right which it has just given to them by Act of this Assembly.
MR DUBY (6.26): Mr Speaker, I find the statements by the Chief Minister quite remarkable. She says quite categorically, "We have given the matter of who will take the position of discrimination commissioner no consideration". I think that was the phrase.
Ms Follett: I said that we have not considered it.
MR DUBY: You have not considered it. You have not considered any applicants.
Ms Follett: The Executive has not considered it.
MR DUBY: The Executive has not considered it. That puts a different slant on things. I would like you, Chief Minister, to explain to me how you can say that the office will be open and operating in three weeks' time if you have given no consideration whatsoever to who will be the commissioner of this office.
Ms Follett: The commissioner probably will not even be in the office. It will be staffed.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .