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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2792 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

as well as on behalf of the other four members of the Executive. This is a very interesting issue we have here - that Mr Moore is one of the five Ministers who have made these regulations. Only the Executive may make regulations. Mr Moore is one of the five Ministers who have made these regulations and he has foreshadowed that he proposes to vote against them. So, this is a very interesting situation.

I think this is the first time that a government, acting collectively, has decided to legislate on a conscious issue, and we are presented with this very interesting scenario: An Executive, which by definition is comprised of five Ministers, is legislating through regulations, and one of the five Ministers then says, "Well, the Executive made the regulations and I as a member of the Executive am a part of this collective decision-making process, but I propose to vote against the regulations which my Executive colleagues have made". This does raise very interesting questions about process.

My colleague Mr Stefaniak has faced this very same issue in relation to safe injecting places. This is an issue which this Assembly really does need to deal with - the issue of members of the Executive simply stepping out of collective responsibility when it suits them by having an issue declared a conscience issue. The point must be made in relation to our system of governance here in the ACT that we cannot afford to simply make up the rules as we go along, and this is an issue that has been raised because of the way in which this matter has been dealt with.

There are other aspects of the process that really should be commented on. I think these regulations should not have been made in the first place and must now be opposed. I just make those points - that the process is badly flawed, and we do need to keep in mind that only the Executive may make regulations. The enabling Act says that, and that is what is said on the face of the regulations that the Government chose to legislate.

I will go back to some of the points that Mr Stefaniak dwelt on in his presentation and which were raised by Mr Moore's letter of 7 June to each member of the Assembly. I think Mr Moore's letter does highlight the inherent contradictions in what we are doing here. Mr Moore advised us in his letter of 7 June that the expert panel had clearly made its decision on professional grounds, and its decision appears to be strictly within its legal powers. But then he went on to say this:

He went on further to say:

It seems to me that this highlights the contradictions we are faced with in this debate and the issue that Mr Stefaniak raised as well - that the expert panel, the advisory panel, was acting strictly in accordance with its legal powers. In other words, its members were

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