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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 104 ..

Mr Osborne: What is getting done - your work?

MR HUMPHRIES: Work is being done on some non-Government members business.

Mr Osborne: Not from my office.

MR HUMPHRIES: I do not have access to such information. I do not ask the Parliamentary Counsel to tell me what members' work is being done. That would be a breach of privacy.

Mr Osborne: You just stood up and said, "They do not do just this; they do that". Now, two minutes later, you are saying that you do not know.

MR HUMPHRIES: I cannot tell you the details of which Bills, because I am not in a position to know what Bills non-Government members are drafting. You have been kind enough to tell me, Mr Osborne. Mr Osborne has told the Assembly what Bills he is drafting, but other members do not usually indulge me - or other members of the Assembly, as far as I am aware - with information about what work they are getting done through the Parliamentary Counsel's Office, so I am afraid I cannot tell you what other work is being done. Mr Osborne spoke about going cap in hand to the Attorney-General. I must say that Mr Osborne usually comes bat in hand to the Attorney-General when he comes to see me. I do not know what this talk of being humble is all about. Mr Osborne would not know what humble was.

I agree with the remarks that these comments today should not be interpreted as an attack on the quality of the work done by parliamentary counsel or their capacity. I know that they are all working exceptionally hard. I know that many of them are working back on weekends and late at night in order to get through the work. There is a strong sense of personal integrity and professional pride in the Parliamentary Counsel's Office. They often burn the candle at both ends rather than deny what they feel is essential work for either Government or other members. The Parliamentary Counsel's Office is always prepared to accelerate amendments to legislation coming before the Assembly. That is work that they always do, even ahead of Government work, even if it is non-Government members who bring forward the amendments.

Mr Speaker, it is a difficult situation. I hope that we will soon be out of it as a result of the Government's plan, a plan which Mr Osborne says is unacceptable. I submit that it is the only course of action available to us. I hope that soon we will have not just a restored Parliamentary Counsel's Office but an augmented Parliamentary Counsel's Office to meet members' needs.

MR BERRY (12.01): The Opposition will be supporting this motion moved by Mr Osborne. We take at face value what Mr Humphries has said. He has said that he is going to go some way towards fixing the problem. There is a bit of a backlog that will have to be addressed. I am sure that he will take that into account when he is recruiting people to the drafting office and ensure that they are available for use by non-Government members.

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