Page 3370 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 24 November 1992
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the questions which would be put to them, such as: "Are you a member of a political party? Have you been a member of a political party in the last five years? Have you been a candidate in that time?". Those sorts of protections, I think, therefore, build in that protection which would make our Electoral Act the best, most fair and most free of corruption and mismanagement that we can possibly arrange through the passage of legislation.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (8.54): Madam Speaker, the Government will be opposing Mr Humphries's proposed new subclause (2A). I should say at the outset that I agree absolutely with speakers who have commented that members of this commission must be above reproach and must be seen to be above reproach. I think that Mr Humphries's amendment really reflects his unease, his suspicion of the kinds of people who might be appointed to the commission. I should say that I believe that his suspicions are unfounded. I will foreshadow now that we will be supporting Mr Moore's amendment which would make these appointments disallowable in this Assembly. Nor do I object to Mr Humphries's proposed subclause (2B) which means that there would be consultation on the appointments. I believe, Madam Speaker, that those two provisions together provide us with a belt and braces approach, if you like, to the appointment of commissioners, and that Mr Humphries's subclause (2A) represents a sort of "aralditing on of the trousers" approach which I really think is unnecessary. I support in principle what he says, but I have the greatest difficulty with the amendment as he has moved it.
I think that one of the problems would be ever implementing the amendment that Mr Humphries has moved. It makes no mention, for example, of the position of Independents, or people who have supported or electioneered for an Independent. I consider that such people might be just as politically compromised as other people who at some stage have been members of a political party, and in this particular electorate, Madam Speaker, we have a strong history of Independent candidates and Independent campaigns. They are not mentioned here and I find that a strange omission by Mr Humphries.
I think it is also strange, Madam Speaker, that Mr Humphries has made no mention of people who are associates or supporters of political parties without having been a member of them. I believe that we have seen candidates in Assembly elections who were not Independents but who would have sworn blind that they were not a member of any party either. I think that engaging in the scrutiny of those people's credentials would be a time consuming exercise which may or may not prove anything. It is up to this Assembly and up to the people who will be consulted in the process to come up with a list of names of people who are indeed above reproach.
Madam Speaker, on the question of bankruptcy, I object in principle to that particular part of Mr Humphries's amendment because it is a fact that in modern drafting practice the reference to bankrupts and to their being ineligible for various activities has largely been dropped. I think it is an anachronism to leave it in there. I accept that Mr Humphries has the highest of motives in putting it in, but I think that it does not reflect current drafting practice. I also think that it acts further to make the implementation of his amendment difficult and really implies that these appointments must be policed in some way.
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