Page 5549 - Week 17 - Wednesday, 4 December 1991
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what it means, and I understand the concern. But I accept the Minister's undertaking that he will further examine this matter. If he would do that in conjunction with the rest of us, so that we can collectively look at the thing to see whether it can be improved and we can understand just what it means, then I would be satisfied.
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and the Arts and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (3.50): We will go through this debate. I think we want to move through here now. I am quite comfortable with this, but we will be examining it in due course. In the meantime I will oppose the amendment and the further amendment.
Amendment negatived.
Clause agreed to.
Clauses 51 to 54, by leave, taken together, and agreed to.
Clause 55
MR JENSEN (3.50): This is the first opportunity that I have had to talk about what I believe to be a fundamental issue in relation to this type of legislation, and that is schedules versus regulations, even if those regulations are disallowable instruments, which the current proposals are. One of the problems is that, despite something being a disallowable instrument, it is still captive of the Executive, captive of the Government. It is not possible for other members of the Assembly to seek to amend these sorts of provisions as would be the case by way of private members' business if they were part of legislation. I probably need leave to move my amendments Nos 45 and 46 together to save time. They are related.
Leave granted.
MR JENSEN: I move:
Page 25, line 29, paragraph 55(1)(a), omit "determined criteria", substitute "criteria specified in Schedule 1A".
Page 25, lines 32 to 35, subclauses 55(2) and (3), omit the subclauses.
It seems to us that if we put something as important as the criteria for the assessment of the heritage significance of places, which is what this clause refers to, in the legislation as a schedule, it is quite clear what people are talking about and that the only way to change those criteria, because they are of such significance I would suggest, is by a substantive change to the legislation. Regulations, as we know, are disallowable instruments in the context of the legislative process; but if, for example, the Government put down an instrument to vary
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