Page 1870 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 19 August 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I say, Madam Speaker, shame on all government members for having done that; and shame on the Independents for having connived with that action and having refused to accept that some action should be taken about this in the Assembly - in particular, for supporting the Government on that vote that was taken earlier this afternoon. It was quite reprehensible and quite shameful.
Matters of Public Importance
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and Training, Minister for the Arts and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (5.42): Madam Speaker, there are two issues to be debated here. One is conventions, and the other is behaviour. They are separate issues. As to the debate about the convention, so called, that government backbenchers or government Ministers do not raise an MPI, the convention has been established. It has been done, and it was done again today. The convention is clear. Let me refer you to House of Representatives Practice on this matter. I have referred to this book in relation to MPIs before today.
Mr Humphries: We have our own conventions here.
MR WOOD: I have heard you stand up and quote from this book, Mr Humphries. It states:
This procedure -
that is, matters of public importance -
is one of the principal avenues available to the Opposition and private Members ... to initiate ... debate ...
It is done predominantly by the Opposition; there is no question about that. It goes on:
... any Member may initiate ...
It says, "any member", not even restricting a Cabinet Minister. It further points to a period in the House of Representatives, from 1981 to 1988, in which 93 per cent of the matters that arose were from the Opposition - not 100 per cent; not absolutely; not totally; not completely.
Mr Humphries: In this place it has been virtually 100 per cent.
MR WOOD: If you want to do a bit of mathematics - it may well be beyond you - you will see that we have done it twice. I am particularly aware of this because, for some six to eight months, I was the backbencher in the first Labor Government. I was always aware of my entitlement, and I was always aware that at any time I could, and I would, raise a matter.
Mr Humphries: But you didn't.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .