Page 1882 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 June 1993
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Mr Moore: And unbiased.
MR STEVENSON: It is an unbiased statement. If you acknowledge the situation yourself - - -
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! Please address your remarks to the Chair and to the motion, Mr Stevenson.
MR STEVENSON: And Mr Moore as well, then.
MADAM SPEAKER: To me, Mr Stevenson.
MR STEVENSON: Right. I make a couple of points. First of all, I did hear Mr Moore talk about a committee and he said - - -
Mr Berry: You have been frozen out, Dennis.
MR STEVENSON: It is true. I did not know about this; you are quite right.
Mr Moore: What do you mean? You were there at the debate. Weren't you listening?
MR STEVENSON: At the debate I did hear you mention a couple of times that there would likely be a committee inquiring into the matter. I did not hear you say that you would propose one, and I wondered when you said it. I thought, "Is there some move afoot to hold a committee?". You said that you hoped that there would be one. I was surprised this morning, after you had presented the Bill, to hear you say that you proposed one. I was not told about it before.
Paragraph (4) of the motion says:
on the Committee presenting its report to the Assembly, resumption of debate on the question "That this Bill be agreed to in principle" be set down as an order of the day for the next sitting;
I am told that that is the second standard; in other words, it is the second time it has happened, supposedly. If the intention is that this Bill that Mr Moore tabled this morning not be debated until after the committee tables its report, I suggest that there would be a more practical way to achieve that. You simply say that, rather than suggesting that the Bill should come up for debate when the report is tabled. I grant that it could be adjourned, and it may well be; but I suggest that, if we are going to have a standard form of words in future, the standard form of words should say that the Bill not be debated until the report is concluded and tabled in the parliament.
MR HUMPHRIES (10.50): Madam Speaker, I move as an amendment to the motion, in regard to paragraph (3):
Omit "17 March", substitute "30 June".
The Liberal Party understands that this is an issue of considerable complexity and sensitivity in the community and feels that for this issue to be ventilated in a short period of time would be unfortunate. It needs to lie on the table for enough time both for the committee to do its job and, in my personal view, for the committee's
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