Page 2749 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 1993
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I am sure that members would agree that it makes little sense to have different laws as between States about the shape of margarine containers, for example. That is just a silly little thing, but it can cause an enormous cost to the manufacturers of margarine if a margarine tub has to be one size in one State and a different size in another State. We now have regulations on uniform traffic laws throughout the States, and we should be grateful to the Federal Government, which got all the States to agree to this. We know that bike helmets are worn in all States and that there is a points system in all States, although I must say that I was not very happy about that. I think it is punishing people twice. But never mind; it is the law, and once it is agreed by all States we have to abide by it.
The second resolution called for more frequent contact between scrutiny committees and exchange of materials prepared by and for committees. It also noted Queensland's offer to hold a meeting for heads of committees in Brisbane in early 1994. The third resolution called upon scrutiny committees to take up the first resolution with their parliaments. This is something on which our committee will deliberate further and report back to this house. The fourth resolution expressed concern at problems involved with quasi-legislation. This I alluded to in part earlier. Members might take the opportunity to refer to the report and give consideration to this idea. I am sure that all members of the committee would be happy to hear about this. This is also something the committee will look into further and report back to the house on. The fifth resolution seeks, prior to ministerial councils agreeing to the introduction of uniform or complementary Bills or delegated legislation, to have such legislation and accompanying documents provided to the relevant parliamentary committees in the first instance.
Resolution No. 6 requested that delegated legislation should be drafted by and/or settled by a specialist drafting office. I think this is a very important resolution. Our committee has already considered how subordinate legislation could be improved. As members would be aware, guidelines for the preparation of these instruments have already been prepared. As well, we have organised a seminar on this issue for middle management in early November. Both of these initiatives should lead to an increase in the quality of subordinate legislation. The final resolution takes up fully the concerns I earlier raised regarding assessment of the economic and social costs and benefits of a range of instruments. All the resolutions carried will be fully considered by the committee and a report made to the Assembly on our deliberations and recommendations.
One other interesting comment was made by Mr Cruickshank, the head of the committee in New South Wales. As he was getting out of the lift in the New South Wales Parliament, the Minister came up to him and said, "What the hell do you lot think you are doing? You think you are really running this place". I chuckled over that one. A lot of Ministers in this house probably feel that there are times when committees believe that they are running the place. I think the committee system is one of the greatest systems we have, and it was very much used by Senator Lionel Murphy, who made the Senate more powerful with the committee system. It is a wonderful system for backbenchers, and I hope that in this house it is a help to Ministers.
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