Page 4193 - Week 13 - Thursday, 25 November 1993
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I made the point that there may be a Bill before the Assembly for a month or two, although that is unusual. Quite often Bills pass within one to six days. In fact, 35 per cent of the Bills that went through this Assembly last year were passed in from one to six days. Let us say that it lasted a month or two; but on the last day, 20 minutes or so before the Bill is to be passed, there are amendments tabled and approved that are of import. There has been no time, and it is a problem. I well remember seeing members with various amendments on the table that all came in in the last few minutes, and we were trying to work out what on earth they meant and how they fitted.
Mr De Domenico: Do you remember the Animal Welfare Bill?
MR STEVENSON: Yes, indeed. I agree that there can be problems in drafting legislation that is difficult to understand. I well recall the 170-word sentence in what was laughingly called the Fair Trading Bill. How you can trade fairly when you cannot understand what the law is, Lord knows. I also remember the animal farewell Bill that farewelled horseracing - at least legal horseracing in this town - as sections 7 and 8 said that it was illegal to cause unnecessary pain or cruelty to an animal. Of course, horses are animals and when you whip them that is not necessary.
Mr De Domenico: And goldfish too, do you remember?
MR STEVENSON: And goldfish. The point of the matter at hand is that it is an unusual solution, but we should not look at the solution without looking at the sequence of actions that caused the unusual solution. Something had to be done to maintain what the people in Canberra wanted, and what the majority of members of this Assembly had stated again and again.
Mr Wood, as Education Minister, says, "Let us pray that we get a majority government in the next term". I have an idea, first of all, that God tends to answer those people who call more often. Perhaps more importantly, if there is one thing that Canberrans should pray for it is that we do not ever get a majority government in this Assembly. If you want to see real arrogance you will see it when they know that they have the numbers. Unfortunately, that does not exclude any of us.
MS SZUTY (4.54): Madam Speaker, for the benefit of Government members, the meaning of the amendment is that we do not want you to cut the 80 teaching positions that we have been talking about for the last two months. In plain and simple terms, it is equivalent to $1.5m of the budget, and effective for the 1993-94 budget. Both Ms Follett and Mr Connolly referred to the Independents as doing deals with the Liberals. We have done no such thing. I want to put it categorically on the record that no deals have been done. It is simply a case of the Independents working together with the Liberals and Mr Stevenson, on this occasion, to achieve the same objective.
Madam Speaker, I support the amendment proposed by Mr Cornwell to the Appropriation Bill. I would like to commence my comments on the amendment by referring to the term "amendment" as the dictionary defines it. In relation to a law, which is effectively what we are dealing with, the meaning of "amendment" is to alter. I would prefer to refer to this amendment moved by Mr Cornwell as inserting a condition or a caveat in the Appropriation Bill.
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