Page 2916 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 September 1994
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Mr De Domenico: It is a pretty pastel green, though.
MR HUMPHRIES: It is a pretty pastel green; I will agree with that, Mr De Domenico. Madam Speaker, we have this document of 18 pages. There are a few blank pages in between, mind you, and a few pictures; but let us put that to one side. We get at the beginning of the document these headings: "Introduction" and "A Definition of Consultation". Okay, we want to know what the Government is going to do. How is it going to consult? We are looking for the actual guts of the document. Then there is the heading, "Why a Consultation Protocol?". Obviously, we want a document so that we can consult. The next heading is, "How to Tell Us What You Think". Then there is, "What happens next?". Bugger-all, you might say; but that is to one side.
It is not until we get to the middle of the document, with the staples showing, that we actually get to the substance of the document. The heading is, "The Proposed Consultation Protocol". Sweat is glistening on the brow, the heart is in the mouth, the chest is thumping with anticipation. What are we going to see in this consultation protocol? On the next page, page 11, there is, "The Purpose of the Consultation Protocol". Where is the protocol itself? On the next page there is, "Appropriate Issues for Consultation". That is fine. Just about everything is mentioned in that short section. Okay. But how and where does it happen? Who is to be consulted with? Those three paragraphs can be basically summarised as "everyone". The next heading is, "Consultation Methods". We are getting down to the detail. It is at page 13, out of 18; but at least we are getting there, Mr Deputy Speaker. Under "Consultation Methods" it says, "Basically we talk to people. We ask them questions and they tell us things that we may or may not want to know". Under the heading "Use of Existing Consultation Forums", basically it says that we should use them. Of course, on the next page we actually get to the end, with "Cost of Consultation". There will be a cost for the consultation is basically what that section says.
For goodness sake, what a waste of taxpayers' money to spend - I do not know - several hundred dollars, presumably, printing X hundreds of copies of this load of rubbish. Where do you think you are getting off, wasting public money on this sort of garbage? Honestly, statements like this really indicate the tenor of this Government's approach to consultation:
Rather, consultation is about providing an opportunity for the community to influence decisions. The final responsibility for decisions rests with Government.
Chief Minister, let me tell you that there is an alternative to that. Under the community referendum proposal put on the table by Mrs Carnell, governments do not just make the final decisions in this community. It is possible, shattering though this idea may be to you, for responsibility to rest elsewhere in some cases. It is possible for the people of this community to actually have a veto or to make a different decision to that made by this Government or a government if they do so by majority referendum. That is a different way of finding out what the people of the community actually think.
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