Page 2118 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 9 September 1992
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indication of what we were talking about when we said "Hare-Clark". On the ballot paper one of the options people had was "A proportional representation (Hare-Clark) system (as outlined in the Commonwealth's Referendum Options Description Sheet)".
That blue sheet in the referendum booklet makes clear reference to Robson rotation. I have not heard the Chief Minister talk about Robson rotation in any of the answers that she has given in this place, or anywhere else for that matter. She has not confirmed that the ACT Government will put in place the whole decision made by the ACT people, including Robson rotation. Perhaps I am misrepresenting her. Perhaps I am doing her a disservice. I hope that she will take advantage of her speech in this debate to indicate just whether the Government will be putting in place Robson rotation as outlined in the booklet which was circulated before the ACT referendum in February this year.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (3.19): Madam Speaker, at the beginning of my comments in relation to Mr Humphries's matter of public importance, I repeat that the Government is completely committed to introducing the Hare-Clark system in the ACT and to doing so in good time before the next ACT election, which is due in February of 1995. Yesterday, in answer to a question from Ms Szuty, I outlined the process and the timetable that we are working to.
I accept Mr Humphries's criticisms of the selection process for our independent senior officer grade B. I take that on the chin, Madam Speaker. He is right. Clerical errors were made. May I clarify what the error was. I believe that it related to the category of person who could apply for the job. In other words, this position is available to people who are not members of the Australian Public Service. At some stage in the advertising process that was not made clear, and it has been corrected. So, yes, Mr Humphries is right and I accept that. Madam Speaker, I outlined yesterday that we would be having a two-stage process, the first stage of which is to introduce the system to establish the ACT electoral commission. I indicated at that time that I expected that to be completed this year.
I turn to the precise nature of Mr Humphries's matter of public importance. It is fair to say that Mr Humphries is quite wrong when he says that there has been a six-month delay in starting work on Hare-Clark. That is simply not the case. In fact, my department has been working on this project since the outcome of the referendum was known, and that is for quite some time. Their work has not always been highly visible and it is not the sort of thing that Mr Humphries could go out and make a scandal over, as he is prone to do. But it has in fact been a matter of detailed consideration of a range of issues, particularly the legal framework of the task that is in hand. In order to assist Mr Humphries I shall briefly outline the framework in which the development of the ACT's electoral system must take place.
Madam Speaker, before amendments to the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 earlier this year, section 66 provided that members of this Assembly were to be elected in accordance with Part VIII of the Act and in accordance with the Australian Capital Territory (Electoral) Act, which is also, as I am sure Mr Humphries knows, a Commonwealth Act. The ACT (Electoral) Act not only sets out numerous substantive and machinery provisions to govern ACT elections but also includes hundreds of modifications of the Commonwealth Electoral Act which apply in the ACT.
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