Page 4318 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 7 December 1993
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with everybody except us, and certainly only with the Government. I do not think that is terribly acceptable. I can fully appreciate that the various people involved may like the legislation, but I think it would be appropriate for them to be able to tell us, the Opposition, that they like the legislation. I do not think Mr Berry really needs to speak for these people.
Real consultation means speaking to everybody, not just the people who will tell you what you want to hear. I want to know what Mr Berry is scared of. Are the chairpeople of the boards, whom he appointed, unable to string two words together? I know that that is not the truth. They are very capable of writing a letter. I am also very sure that they are capable of telling me, and anybody else, for that matter, what they think of the pieces of legislation.
Professional boards are not made up of public servants. On the whole, they are half elected by the professions involved, in most cases, and they are half appointed by the Minister. They are not, or are not supposed to be, under the direct control of the Minister. The Minister is not supposed to be telling the boards what they should do from minute to minute. That is the whole point of setting up boards. I have a huge problem with the Minister intercepting letters that go to bodies which are not part of the public service.
Mr Berry: Of course you would. You are in opposition; you are supposed to. You are the Leader of the Opposition and you should take even huger issue with it.
MRS CARNELL: The Minister does not seem to think this is an important issue, but I do.
Mr Berry: Trevor never ever took huge opposition to these matters. He understood.
MRS CARNELL: I am sure that Mr Kaine would never have intercepted anybody else's mail.
Mr Kaine: Never. I never even tripped up the postman.
MRS CARNELL: Absolutely, as I suspected. Even if Mr Berry does not think it is an important issue, the important issue here is the independence of the professional boards. Those boards must be independent. They must be able to act in an appropriate manner under the legislation that sets them up. They must be able to do what they see as appropriate. It seems that the Minister does not believe that to be the case. He does not even believe that they are capable of responding to their own mail.
Mr Cornwell: He is trying to save stamps for the budget, Mrs Carnell - the health budget blow-out.
MRS CARNELL: I can fully appreciate that, Mr Cornwell, but I do not believe that this is an appropriate approach. Even though he intercepts their mail, he does not intercept their phone calls. I am pleased to report to Mr Berry, although he is not totally right about their total, absolute support for these pieces of legislation, that we on this side of the house do totally support this legislation.
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