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Mr Speaker, the motions for the establishment of the five committees followed a quite lengthy process of negotiation, with all members of the Assembly represented in terms of their groupings. There were, in fact, two proposals put up. One was the status quo proposal, which was put by Mr Berry - to leave the committees exactly as they were. The second proposal, which was put by me - it is the one being put today - was to narrow the number of committees and the number of people on those committees. So, instead of having 33 committee places requiring members' time, we narrowed it to 22 and also narrowed the number of committees by a couple. Mr Speaker, I believe that this will make for a most efficient committee system. But, perhaps more importantly, if we go through a process of change - certainly I have made a commitment in these meetings, which I intend to stick by, that the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment be reviewed as to its effectiveness and make-up within the next few months, if that is required by other members - I would expect that process to be fruitful.

It is much easier, I argued, and I argue it again today, Mr Speaker, to increase the number of committees than to reduce the number of committees. I think it is the weight of that argument that has resulted in the agreement thus far reached - although clearly with some dissent from the Labor Party and with the comment that Ms Tucker made earlier, that sometimes, unfortunately, these things are about numbers. Mr Speaker, there was nothing Machiavellian about the discussions on these matters.

Ms Follett: Pull the other leg!

MR MOORE: It just appears that way to the former Chief Minister because she does not have the numbers. But those of us who, for the last six years, have been on the receiving end of the way Labor crunches numbers believe that pitching this as some form of Machiavellianism puts them in Machiavellian clothes for the last six years.

Mr Speaker, what has happened is that we have had discussions and we have come to an appropriate result. I hope that that will be recognised, as we have the best system for committees in the Assembly.

Mr Wood: You were not going to do deals.

MR MOORE: There was an interjection from Mr Wood: “You were not going to do deals”. I have not done a deal. I did not do deals. I object to that. You know that I have never done a deal with you.

Mr Berry: With them you have, though.

MR MOORE: I have never done a deal with the Labor Party on this, and I will not do deals with them either. Mr Speaker, I was able to convince the Liberal Party, I was able to convince Mr Osborne and I was able to convince the Greens - although there are parts of this that they do not like and there are parts of it that I do not like - that this is the best compromise, and I believe that that will be the result of a vote on this issue.

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