Page 380 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 23 February 1993
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MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Stevenson, would you please address your remarks to me and not respond to suggestions that are made.
MR STEVENSON: Whatever members might say, in fact 35 per cent of the 81 Bills last year were passed in less than seven days. I grant that some of them were of a minor administrative nature. Some of them could have been debated as being urgent, but there were many that were not. Attempts were made to pass many of the others in one week but they were not successful. Everyone listening would understand that the way to make sure that there is not much community opposition to many of these things is to ram them through like a sausage factory.
Mr Connolly: That is from my press release.
MR STEVENSON: That picks up the point that Mr Connolly makes. I have never used that phrase but I thought that it is pretty popular today and it is not a bad statement. I know that most of the laws that pass through this house, including this particular Bill that we are debating at the moment, probably will not impact too much on members of this Assembly. This Bill may impact on some but probably not.
But there are many people in this community who have a right - you know it and I know it, and everyone out there knows it - to be consulted. It is not good enough for the Chief Minister to use the word "consultation" without doing it. It truly is not. You say it so well. I hear you on the ABC. I see it written in the Canberra Times and other places. You really put the point well. If only you followed it. If only you agreed with the principle that you say again and again to people. If only you believed in community consultation. If only you gave people an opportunity to find out, to get involved in the Assembly. How on earth are we supposed to have people in this community involved in their political process when they do not have an opportunity to know what is going on?
A week is just a joke. Two weeks is not enough. Three weeks is not enough. Most people in Canberra say "between two to three months". I have moved that it be two months and I will do so again soon. When I brought the matter up last year some members said that they agreed that Bills could be debated under an urgency motion, but there are many minor administrative matters that should be allowed to go through. I agree entirely. I did not handle it as well as I could at that time. I have looked at it and I will next time. I will exclude minor administrative matters as well, provided it is passed by an absolute majority in the Assembly. That will be coming up soon. I totally agree with Mr Connolly's comments last time that those matters should be allowed to go through. The amendment I will move to the standing orders will allow them through and will allow urgent matters.
The Liberal members made the point very well that there is no suggestion of urgency. There is not even a suggestion of it. We hear a lot of things that may not be correct but in this case there has not even been a suggestion of any urgency here. There is certainly no suggestion that it is a minor administrative matter.
Mr Moore: But you do not think we should consult with people at all. You do not think we should exist. If we do not exist, how can we consult?
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