Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 10 Hansard (5 December) . . Page.. 2671 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

well in Queensland for a number of years. It seems to me that, rather than ask members to digest long and apparently fairly dry material of the kind that is contained in this Bill, it would be better for this to be dealt with by a printer's amendment. That is the proposal the Government will be putting forward in, I hope, the first half of next year. So this may be the last annual Bill. I am sorry that Mr Moore has left the chamber, because I wanted to respond fairly firmly to the comments he made about the short time before this Bill was brought on.

Ms McRae: Call a quorum.

MR HUMPHRIES: I am very tempted, I must admit. You are the ones who are very good at that, so I will leave it to you to do that.

Ms McRae: We do not want Mr Moore.

MR HUMPHRIES: That was not a challenge. That was an epithetical comment. Mr Speaker, the practice that this Government has adopted is basically to allow members to dictate when they wish Bills to be brought forward. At the Government business meetings on Fridays I say to members, "Here are the Bills. When would you like to deal with them?". That is in very sharp contrast to the situation with the previous Government, when we were told that Bills had to be dealt with - - -

Ms Follett: Rubbish!

MR HUMPHRIES: You were never at those meetings, Ms Follett. Mr Berry would come to the meetings to say, "This Bill has to be debated on this day", and generally no reason was available as to why it had to be done on that basis. We have taken a very different approach. We have said to the Assembly, "You tell us when you would like to debate the Bills". In fact, no member expressed any objection to this Bill being debated today, which is why it is being debated today. I hope that Mr Moore gives his staff better instructions before he sends them to meetings - - -

Ms Follett: He is your mate. I thought he told you when to do things.

MR HUMPHRIES: No, we have asked the Assembly to give us their views about when they want legislation to be debated. There are sometimes Bills which are urgent - for example, the Public Sector Management (Amendment) Bill, which we will be asking the Assembly to debate into law this week - but, generally speaking, if a Bill is not urgent we say to members of the Assembly, "When would you like to debate the Bill?". All members are welcome at the Government business meetings on Fridays before sitting periods. They are entitled to come and express their point of view at those meetings. I hope that, for the most part, we have consensus. I hope that Mr Moore takes the trouble to consult with his staff before he expresses some concern about a Bill being debated, as he did today. Mr Speaker, I thank members for their support for the Bill and I look forward to it being passed.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .