Page 2979 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 September 1994
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Point one is: Why in anyone's deliberations do we need to change a process that has worked very well? Why are we denying to every non-Executive member of this Assembly that wishes to be part of a process the right to finally be part of the reporting process? It does not make sense. So, we have to ask the question: Why are we doing it? There is a very simple answer. We are doing it because members of the Labor Party in particular at the last Estimates Committee, and sometimes Ms Szuty, were not too happy with the outcome of the information that was presented to the committee and debated.
Mr Cornwell: When they bothered to turn up.
MR DE DOMENICO: When they bothered to turn up, as my colleague Mr Cornwell correctly points out, they were not happy with the criticism that was being made of the Government. That is their prerogative. I did not see a dissenting report, though. What this motion is all about is stopping the Liberal Party members of this elected Assembly, who, by the way, we know, have the numbers - and, let us be honest, it is all about numbers - - -
Mr Berry: Why not sit down and let us vote on the motion and get on with something else?
Mr Cornwell: It is embarrassing, is it not?
MR DE DOMENICO: It is embarrassing, is it not, Mr Berry? Madam Speaker, it is embarrassing to Mr Berry, because it was Mr Berry who spent the least time at the Estimates Committee and then came in and disrupted it at the end because he did not agree with what the committee said. That is the fact of the matter. This is one way that this Government, in cahoots with the Independents, is trying to stop and gag the criticism that may be due when the Estimates Committee finally comes to write its report. That is what it is all about. Mr Berry knows that, and Ms Follett knows that as well. So, let us not call spades shovels, for heaven's sake.
We are aware, Ms Szuty, of what standing orders 234 and 235 say - that everybody can turn up and ask questions - but the whole nitty-gritty of this motion is this: "Let us not give the Liberal Party a majority at the time of the report being written because, for heaven's sake, heaven forbid, they may be a little too critical of the Government in a political way". Of course we would be if there is a criticism to be made, because we are here in a political process, Ms Ellis, and if people are not happy with being in a political process they should do other things. This motion needs to be chucked out. It is a nonsense.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! I have asked for a minimising of personal conversations in the chamber, Mrs Grassby. I was explaining before that the acoustics carry the voices. Please, minimise conversations in the chamber.
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