Page 2408 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 June 1994
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at the same time; this was an afterthought. In briefings I have had on this issue over the last few weeks, I have ascertained that this Part could be excised without affecting any other part of the Bill whatsoever. There has been no identification of any other part of the Bill that would be affected if this were taken out.
That being the case, I would prefer to see this legislature enact comprehensive legislation that deals with all aspects of whistleblowing rather than only some of them. Ms Szuty suggests that we will get to more comprehensive legislation sooner rather than later. I do not know what she bases that on. I do not know how we will get to it, because this Assembly, not just the Government, rejected the select committee's report on this matter. That would suggest to me that a majority of people in this Assembly do not want more comprehensive legislation. When Ms Szuty says that we will get to it sooner rather than later, it is a nice thought, but I do not think it is very soundly based.
Coming back to my initial point, I would prefer to have no legislation than poor legislation. I think this Part of the Bill is poor because it was put together very quickly and thrust in at the last minute. I do not think it has been seriously thought through. It is restricted in its application. For those reasons, I support the approach which for the time being would remove Part XII from the Bill.
MR MOORE (5.49): Madam Speaker, what we have just heard from Mr Kaine, I think, is the most extraordinary piece of doublespeak we have heard in this Assembly, certainly today. I want to clarify that. It was Mr Kaine who took the very unusual step, when he brought down the report of the select committee, of moving that the report be adopted. I opposed that very unusual motion because, although I agreed with the report in principle, there were a couple of minor things that I had some difficulty with. Now we find Mr Kaine, who wanted the whole thing adopted, taking a totally different view from the committee report. This is one of the areas that I think the committee got right, and I am prepared to support the committee report. At the same time, the committee made it very clear - - -
Mr Kaine: You rejected it, mate.
MR MOORE: Madam Speaker, Mr Kaine interjects again and again that I rejected it. That is his doublespeak. I did not reject the report as a whole; I rejected the motion that it be adopted. It was a very unusual motion, you would agree. You know that that was a tactic that backfired on you and left you in the position where you are now voting against your own report. That is ironic.
Your report was right in this particular instance. For the time being, it is appropriate that we have some whistleblower legislation. I hope that it is as short a time as possible, and I put back to you that you are the one who can make it as quick as possible. I would like to see your report on this whistleblowing legislation from the Standing Committee on the Public Sector, which we established last week, back in this Assembly at our very next sitting. We can then move to adopt fuller whistleblowing legislation based fundamentally on the legislation Mrs Carnell tabled. That is consistent with the report.
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