Page 2006 - Week 07 - Thursday, 17 June 1993
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the first 10 years of its life. From the day it is established, of course, it will become - as all public services, all human organisations, become - a very dynamic organisation. People will have different views about what it should do, how it should do it, how it should be structured and the like. But its initial form will have a long-term effect on the way it does its business. So it is important that it be done right, and it is important that this Assembly should make its input into how the philosophy and the concepts of our public service are developed and determined.
Madam Speaker, I had hoped to be a member of this committee, and that is why we proposed five members. We did it so that two members of the Opposition could be members of the committee. I withdrew my candidacy reluctantly because, although Mr Lamont only 20 minutes ago said that the greater the participation in Assembly committees the better the output, when it came to this committee the Government decided that it could not participate to the degree that we were proposing. They did not think that it was important enough to put two of their members on it. For them not to have two members would make it an unbalanced committee. If the Opposition had two members and they had only one, there would forever be the accusation that we unduly influenced the outcome. That would be divisive and, for that reason, I withdrew my candidacy for this committee.
I did so very reluctantly, because I think I can safely argue that there is nobody in this Assembly whose background, experience, qualifications and enthusiasm for this subject are stronger than mine.
Mr Connolly: Your party should put up the best candidate.
MR KAINE: This idea is Mr De Domenico's idea. I am not about to steal somebody else's motion. I have not done it before and I do not intend to do it today. I am sure that you do not do it in your party room either, Mr Connolly. I am sure that you do not jump into somebody else's boots because you have a particular desire to do so. You accept the fact that somebody else's idea is being put forward and it is their right to participate. But I think that I can say that, had I remained Chief Minister, we would have already had our own ACT government service. We would not still be talking about establishing a committee to look at it. I think that that says something about the Government and also Mr Lamont's rhetoric. He said that participation in committees is a good thing, yet when it comes to something as important as this the Government does not want to participate.
Madam Speaker, I will now make my input to this matter in other ways. I suppose that I can argue that by not being a member of this committee it leaves me free to comment in any way I like about not only what the Government is proposing but also what the committee might come up with. As an elected member of this house, I can say that I am now free, perhaps much freer than I would have been as a member of the committee, because to some degree you are bound by decisions made in committees and the recommendations that flow from them. While I am disappointed that I cannot be a member of this committee for good reasons, I will certainly be making my input to it. The last thing that I would do would be to delay this matter. As I said, I think that it is already too late. Had I remained Chief Minister, we would have had an ACT government service by now and we would not be still talking about how we might go about getting one. I support this motion, and I reluctantly agree to the amendments foreshadowed by the Chief Minister.
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