Page 696 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 23 March 1993
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Remember that he was speaking on 8 December. He went on:
It is a matter of weeks.
Mr Connolly, the challenge is out to you to make sure that after this Bill goes through this house tomorrow you have it available in a couple of weeks and, Mr Connolly - - -
Mr Connolly: You bet, you bet!
Mrs Grassby: You bet. We will not hold anybody up any longer.
MR MOORE: That is right, because you think it is so urgent. Have it available in a couple of weeks. We do not want to see you gazette just the first Act, as you did with the Prostitution Bill.
Mr Connolly: Yes, and set up all your procedures.
MR MOORE: That was appropriate. But we want to see you ready in a couple of weeks.
Mr Connolly: "That was appropriate", you said. You said, "We do not want to see it, but it was appropriate".
MR MOORE: In the case of the Prostitution Bill, I am not arguing about what was done. I will explain it very carefully to you, because you do not seem to understand. In the case of the Prostitution Bill, Mr Connolly, you gazetted just the title of the Bill. It was a mechanical thing. Provided you then prepare things, you can gazette the rest in due time. In that case, you have to do that within another month or so, and no doubt you will.
But, in the case of this Bill, Mr Connolly, that will not be good enough, because you indicated very clearly to people that they would be able to take action on anything that was in the Bill. Quite clearly, the intention that you were putting across on 8 December was that you would have the whole thing gazetted and organised - no worries - in two or three weeks. Mr Connolly, it is now 23 March; tomorrow is 24 March. By mid-April, to give you an extra week up your sleeve, if you are as good as your word and if you really were concerned and not making a series of scurrilous statements, you will have it nicely gazetted.
Madam Speaker, I think it is appropriate to point out that Mr Connolly's whole approach has been to suggest that we were being terribly irresponsible, and his notion was, "Just trust me. It is okay. I am the Minister. I have looked after it. No worries. We have had public consultation. I have looked after it". In a positive light, I must say that Mr Connolly did carry out public consultation and got the Bill pretty well right. But it still was important for this Assembly committee to take a look at it. Looking at this report, Madam Speaker, I believe that the move was totally justified. I understand that people were feeling very hard done by after the words of Mr Connolly and the false promises made by Mr Connolly on 8 December implying that the Government could have the whole thing ready before Christmas. That simply was not the case. I hope that people are now rewarded for their patience and that the Bill will be so much the better for that extra bit of time.
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