Page 2121 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 9 September 1992
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since the result was known. She talks about the complexity of the technical matters. What she does not state, however, state is that it would have been quite possible to have done all those things and, in parallel, look at the matters that Mr Humphries mentioned. Surely it is not beyond the wit of the Chief Minister's Department to progress something as important as this new electoral proposal in parallel - by not only addressing the Federal technical matters but also setting up the machinery for drawing up the electoral boundaries and preparing legislation.
The reason that they cannot do this, and we all know it, is that it is not a matter of political point scoring that our Chief Minister is concerned about - at least not political point scoring from the Liberal Party. It is the problems that they face within the ALP itself. It comes down to the crunch - and I mean "crunch" in the full sense of the word - of Robson rotation. There are going to be some real problems of number crunching in the ALP because, as we all know, Robson rotation does not allow the factions to organise who is going to be at the top of the ticket. The Robson rotation allows everybody on the ticket an equal chance. This would not please the machine men and women of the ALP. That is the last thing they would want. The problem is that certain incompetents within the ALP who are at the moment elected to this Assembly may find it extremely difficult to be re-elected under Robson rotation.
Mrs Carnell: Do you mean people like Wayne?
MR CORNWELL: I would not like to speculate. It would not be Mrs Grassby; it would not be Mr Connolly; it would not be Mr Wood. Those three are present in the chamber. And it certainly would not be you, Madam Speaker. I leave it to members to judge for themselves to whom I may be referring. But the fact is that this is the problem that they face, and they cannot resolve it. It is not a question of political point scoring outside of the ALP. They are desperately trying to come to some solution. I suspect that this matter cannot be resolved internally within the party; it can be resolved only by delay so that eventually time will run out.
There are many complicated procedures. The drawing up of the electoral Bill, as has been pointed out, is not a simple matter. Something like 14 stages have been identified - drawing up drafting instructions, setting up a boundaries commission, two stages of community consultation and finalising the system. There are 14 stages involved in all. If they can delay this long enough, those 14 stages will not have been completed by the time the next election comes around and therefore we will have to fall back on something that may be a little more simple.
Mr Humphries: Like d'Hondt.
MR CORNWELL: That is right. It may have to be d'Hondt again.
Mr Lamont: It does not matter what it is. Most of you will not be back, so you should not be too worried about it. There will be a few more garbage bins being wheeled out.
MR CORNWELL: We might have to put a few of you people in them. Delay is the only answer for the ALP with this absolute dilemma. The Left and the Right factions are obviously going to be at each other's throats. What will happen to those who are unaligned - my good friends Mrs Grassby and Mr Wood - I would not like to speculate on. However, they are another factor - - -
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