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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4923 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

and it does not mean that it cannot be reviewed. Indeed, the Deputy Chief Minister himself has indicated that he believes that there may be scope for some review of the electoral system. The Deputy Chief Minister made the comment that he believed that perhaps the Chief Minister should be directly elected.

Mr Humphries: I did not.

MR CORBELL: Yes, you did. You made the comment that the Chief Minister should be a directly elected position - not elected by this place, but directly elected by the voters of the Territory. If those sorts of comments are part of the political landscape, why can other comments about the electoral system not also be considered? That is what the Labor Party is arguing also.

Mr Speaker, we do need a constructive debate about governance. Mr Osborne waxed lyrical about the Independents and the role of the old parties in this place. I have never had any objection to people electing Independents or minor parties to houses of parliament. If they are effective enough to win the support of the electorate, then so be it; that is the will of the people. But, Mr Speaker, I will say something about Independents. Where do they stand? Do you know how they vote? Do you know what they are on about? (Extension of time granted) The major political parties - whether it be the Labor Party or the Liberal Party - and even smaller parties like the Greens and the Democrats, have a platform; they have policies; they have positions. Indeed, the community expects those parties to have a comprehensive range of policies dealing with almost every subject imaginable. You yourself would know this, Mr Speaker. Whether they are on issues of major concern to everyone in the Territory or on issues of concern to only a small group, people expect our parties to have policies. They expect our parties to have positions, and we do.

The Labor Party takes the issue of policy very seriously. We have an annual conference, which endorses our policy platform on almost every issue imaginable. But what do the Independents have, Mr Speaker? What does Mr Osborne have? What does Mr Osborne say about the subjects that the Australian Labor Party's platform deals with? What does Mr Osborne say about animal liberation? What does Mr Osborne say about animal welfare? What does Mr Osborne say about fuel wood supplies? What does he say about a whole range of things? We do not know, and his electors do not know. Indeed, Mr Osborne himself probably does not know. He thinks about it only when he needs to. He makes up his mind on the spur of the moment; that is his policy. I do not know whether the electors who elected him knew what he stood for when they elected him. How representative is it when an individual decides himself, or herself, that this is what they are going to say this time? They might change their mind in six months. They may change it again in another six months, depending on the political environment. There is no process of consultation and no process of involvement with their electors. It is their own decision - no-one else's. There is no sense of involvement with their community, no sense of involvement with their electors and no sense of involvement with those people who supported them.

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