Page 2158 - Week 08 - Thursday, 10 September 1992
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MR HUMPHRIES: Thank you, Mr Opposition Leader.
Madam Speaker, the Government's position on the question of the statement yesterday by the Chief Minister in answer to my question is still admirably unclear. The Government answered a question in a very short, unhelpful way yesterday. To a more complicated question it answered, "No". Madam Speaker, since the answer "No" could have applied to any one of the three questions I asked during that question, it is very hard to know just what it applies to. The answer was designed, I would respectfully suggest to the Chief Minister, to be unhelpful. It was reported as such in the Canberra Times this morning. I think, Madam Speaker, that it remains unclear.
The Assembly needs to know a great deal more about what happened yesterday and the day before in respect of the raids on the Canberra Times and about the directive to members of the ACT Government Service that they should not supply information to other members of parliament without also advising the ACT Executive. Even supplying factual, generally available information, like library opening hours, apparently has to result in some report to this mistrusting Government. Madam Speaker, I think that is quite disgraceful. I believe that the Chief Minister ought to make a fuller statement than she has made so far. We still do not know whether there was a directive. We still do not know whether that directive was authorised by the ACT Government, namely, by the Ministers in the Government or by the Chief Minister. Those answers need to be brought out. They have not been brought out today.
ADMINISTRATION AND PROCEDURES - STANDING COMMITTEE
Report on New Assembly Premises
Debate resumed from 8 September 1992, on motion by Ms McRae:
That the report be adopted.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (10.43): I think that this is a report that needs to be considered very carefully by the Assembly because the course of action that we take on this matter will be of great concern to the general public. I made a comment in a submission that I made to this committee, right from the outset, that I thought that there were three basic considerations that should be taken into account in establishing permanent accommodation for the Legislative Assembly, and I will repeat them. The first was that the new facilities must be consistent with the expectations of the community - that is, not lavish. Secondly, and to some extent at odds with the first one, I said that the facilities must reflect the true status of the Assembly as the Territory's legislature. Thirdly, I said that, again consistent with community expectations, the members, the secretariat and the staff must be reasonably housed.
On the face of it, the recommendations made by this committee meet those three general basic considerations, I believe. I note that, despite the Speaker's view early in this inquiry that its terms of reference required it to look at only the Government's proposal, and I insisted at the time that that was not the case, the committee did take the point and did look at a very large number of options other than the Government's proposal. I am pleased that the committee took that point and did some comparative studies on options other than simply taking up the Government's proposition that the South Building was the appropriate place.
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