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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3271 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

I have served on that committee from time to time. Meetings at which he was present were always a delight. He was a man who served in that role with urbanity, and his contribution will be sorely missed. He certainly has the most extraordinary mind and capacity to identify issues and determine inconsistencies or problems with legislation or regulations presented before the committee with a perceptiveness and a quality which, I suspect, would be very rare and hard to find in other people. I recall one occasion when I spotted an error in a piece of legislation that he had apparently overlooked. It felt like playing Pete Sampras and winning a game off him, such was his formidable capacity to identify those sorts of issues. Mr Wood made passing reference to the way in which Professor Whalan would bring his good humour to the process of preparing his reports for the Scrutiny of Bills Committee. I think that the secretariat to the committee would often have to edit some of Professor Whalan's witticisms out of reports before they were tabled in this place, rather to the detriment of the rest of the Assembly.

I wish Professor Douglas Whalan the very best of health in his retirement and hope that he will be around to bring good humour into our lives for some time to come. He has made an enormous contribution during the early important years of ACT self-government, in a way which very few members of the public would see but which nonetheless is extremely important. From this side of the chamber, I am very happy to support the motion Mr Wood has moved.

MR OSBORNE (10.56): I, too, rise to support the motion of Mr Wood's. For a brief time, for about 12 months, I was chair of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee. I have to be honest and say that in all of the jobs I have had I have always felt that I earned the money, but in this one it was certainly the easiest money I ever earned. Professor Whalan is an extraordinary person. I would put him in the genius category. There were times when he picked up things which went well and truly above my head. I really enjoyed the time with Professor Whalan. The thing that struck me most about him was that he had a good heart. He was a tremendous fellow. He always laughed at my jokes, no matter how bad they were. He will certainly be missed by all of us. I hope that he battles his illness with the same amount of desire and will with which he tackled his job with the Assembly. I certainly will miss him and I wish him all the best.

MR WHITECROSS (10.57): Mr Speaker, I want to add my acknowledgment of Professor Douglas Whalan's contribution to the work of this Assembly and the work of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee. As Mr Osborne did, I had a period as chair of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee. In what can be a very dry committee where it is sometimes difficult to stimulate a vigorous debate, Professor Whalan was always happy to engage in discussion about the issues that were before the committee, to stimulate our thoughts and to respond positively to ideas on specific Bills and on how the committee as a whole should operate.

I have enjoyed many very interesting, intellectually stimulating and rewarding conversations with Professor Whalan in the course of the committee's work, including at interparliamentary meetings of subordinate legislation committees. Professor Whalan added to the work of the Assembly because he brought with him the experience of the

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