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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2193 ..

Ms Tucker: With some good reasons for why you reject recommendations.

MR HUMPHRIES: There were, I think, 15 recommendations or so from that committee. We have accepted 13 of the 15. That is pretty good.

Ms Tucker: But you rejected the two that involved this work.

MR HUMPHRIES: You were not a member of that committee, were you, Ms Tucker?

Ms Tucker: No, but I am very interested in the committee work in this Assembly.

MR HUMPHRIES: In your view, they are important. With great respect - - -

MR SPEAKER: Order! Again, this is not a dialogue.

Ms Tucker: He is asking me questions.

MR SPEAKER: I know, and I am reminding everybody that it is not a dialogue.

MR HUMPHRIES: With great respect, there are other views about that. We are the Government. We are putting on the table our response to that. We are accepting 13 of the 15 recommendations, or whatever the number is. We are saying, "This is what we believe". We are not saying that both things referred to in that report - a privacy commissioner or a privacy ombudsman and legislation - should not happen; but we are saying, and I think this is quite logical, that those things ought to happen when there has been some assessment of the trial.

Does Ms Tucker have any concept of the cost of appointing a person to hold a statutory position of privacy ombudsman for the duration of maybe a five- or six-month trial and setting up the infrastructure that goes with that, as well as putting resources aside to frame legislation, very complex legislation, for what could be a trial which results in there being no decision to go forward with such a concept in Canberra? Is that really a good use of our limited resources?

Ms Tucker: We need privacy legislation anyway, Mr Humphries.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Ms Tucker, you have asked your supplementary question.

MR HUMPHRIES: Is that a good use of our limited resources, particularly in view of the fact that at the moment we have a serious problem with crime in the city? I want to deal with that problem. I think we have mucked around for long enough on this issue. We should get on with the business of making a decision.

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