Page 1854 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 15 June 1993
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MR STEVENSON: Mr Lamont says that they are going to sleep. I cannot ignore that comment. I think it is a good comment. What is the real reason that Mr Berry does not want this Assembly to have the right to look at nominations and the right of veto? I suggest that the real reason has to do with power, not with attracting good people to fill posts, not with whether or not the Liberal members or any other members would like to propose appointees to posts, as I am sure they would. The truth of the matter is that it has to do with power. Mr Berry feels - and it should not be the case - that these amendments would remove executive power. If it did, it would be a good thing too.
MR MOORE (10.52): Madam Speaker, the similar amendment to the Electoral Act has not caused the sorts of problems that the Labor Party seems to suggest that these amendments will cause. It did not bring an end to democracy as we know it, and it certainly has not meant that people involved in the Electoral Commission have suffered the sorts of problems that Mr Berry flagged. The reason for that, Madam Speaker, is that the Chief Minister took care to consult with the members on the people she wished to appoint. What these amendments will require is simply that that consultation process proceed also on prospective members of the ACTTAB. Madam Speaker, I think that is a quite appropriate way to deal with appointments to such important positions as these. For those reasons I am delighted to support these amendments.
MS SZUTY (10.53): I, too, support the amendments as proposed by Mr De Domenico. I support them for the reason that they give the Assembly greater scrutiny of the Government's appointments to the TAB. I also share Mr Moore's view that it really is up to the Minister, Mr Berry, to consult with members in this Assembly about appointments in the first place, which I am sure he will do, as Ms Follett has done with the appointments to the Electoral Commission.
I cannot see any problem whatsoever with the amendments as proposed by Mr De Domenico. I have not taken part in this debate up until this point. I feel that the Assembly and the community have had enough time to scrutinise the Betting (Totalizator Administration) (Amendment) Bill as proposed by Mr Berry. I do not have any difficulty whatsoever with what is being proposed. I have not had presented to me any cohesive argument which would indicate that the Bill is in any way deficient. I was not prepared to support Mr De Domenico's move to refer this Bill to the Standing Committee on Tourism and ACT Promotion, because I believe that the Assembly has had sufficient time to consider the issues. In addition to supporting the amendments as proposed by Mr De Domenico, I wish to indicate to the Assembly that I will be supporting the amendments to be moved shortly by Mr Berry.
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (10.55): Madam Speaker, members opposite, both Opposition and Independents, were scoffing somewhat when Mr Berry said that the passage of these amendments would make, or could make, government unworkable. Let me tell members that I have just come back from two weeks in the United States. The system there is the best example of why this sort of proposal would make government unworkable. The system whereby, for all executive appointments, you have to go into the legislature and get a form of confirmation - and that is what the proposal here is about - has made appointment to executive office in the United States virtually unworkable.
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