Page 1634 - Week 06 - Thursday, 13 August 1992
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Mr Lamont: You should take your own advice.
MR KAINE: I am taking my advice. I believe, Mr Lamont, that on this and many other issues I have a great deal of credibility in this community, very wide credibility. It is because of the fact that I have served this community for many years. People know that what they see is what they get. There is no secret agenda with me; what is on the table is what I am on about. I am really serious when I say, Madam Speaker, that this is a divisive issue and it is causing a lot of people a great deal of concern. When industries like the racing industry begin to say - - -
Mr Lamont: One person.
MR KAINE: A very significant person - not just some fly-by-night jockey, not some strapper, not some employee at the racecourse; a very eminent person in the racing industry, and one, as was pointed out a number of times yesterday, that your Government appointed to head up a statutory body because of his expertise and his qualifications in the industry. Do not shrug his opinion off lightly. I know that he has made approaches directly to you on this issue, and you shrugged him off like you are shrugging me and everybody else off.
Madam Speaker, it is not good enough to ram bad legislation through this Assembly, and this is bad legislation. The fact that it has taken so long to debate the first dozen clauses of it surely speaks for itself. People are not in this place simply to filibuster, and I object to and resent that sort of implication. We are here to take up issues on behalf of this community, and I wish the Government could say the same thing. On this particular matter the Government clearly are not interested in what the community thinks. They have no concern whatsoever for it, except for a very small minority who have a right to be concerned about welfare. We all are. Mr Westende did not refute that; he has a concern for animal welfare too. But this goes too far.
If the Government forces this through, it will live to regret the day that it does it. It can very easily demonstrate its good intent by allowing a select committee to examine these matters of concern. It does not have to take too long. We are not asking that the thing be deferred for 10 years. Mr Westende has put forward a reasonable and responsible proposal, and I think it is incumbent on the members of this Assembly to give that proposal very serious consideration.
MS SZUTY (11.16): Madam Speaker, I support the motion by Mr Westende to establish a select committee to examine the Animal Welfare Bill, although I support it rather reluctantly. My reluctance is due to the time that has already been taken on the Animal Welfare Bill and the extensive lead-up work which occurred prior to its preparation as a Bill for consideration by this Assembly. Another reason for my reluctance is an acknowledgment that extensive consultation has already taken place, and I really wonder whether further consultation is necessary.
However, there are advantages in adopting the select committee process in this instance. It is a more appropriate forum in which to discuss the detail of the Bill and may actually save this Assembly time, rather than having us discussing and debating each clause as it comes forward. The objectives of Mr Westende's motion are admirable. An examination of the Animal Welfare Bill with a view to recommending clearer and more concise expression will enable a select
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