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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 316 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

the issue in the form of amendments to the government's bill. Perhaps that is a strange way of dealing with it, but nonetheless he puts it forward for consideration today.

Mr Speaker, I think Mr Stanhope continues to misunderstand the way in which the executive in any government operates in such matters. When Mr Stanhope originally put forward legislation to deal with the same thing as his amendments today he seemed to operate on the misapprehension that the executive met together to make decisions about the formation of regulations. I would be boldly prepared to venture the view that no executive anywhere in Australia actually does that, and, indeed, none anywhere in the world. The nature of regulations is that it is subordinate legislation. It is made technically by the executive but in fact by members of the executive, usually members associated with a particular area of operation of the government, who exercise effectively a delegation from the executive to consider and make regulations. That is the way, I have no doubt, that executives operate right across the country.

Mr Speaker, the problem I have with Mr Stanhope's amendment is that I think it cuts across the self-government act, which expressly provides that there is a power for a minister to act on behalf of another minister. The provision I am referring to is section 43 (2) of the self-government act which allows the Chief Minister to authorise a minister to act on her behalf or his behalf or to act on behalf of any other minister. That power has been exercised continuously throughout the life of the Assembly by various chief ministers, and it is exercised today by me in allowing other ministers to act on each other's behalf.

What Mr Stanhope's amendment would effectively do is say that that power, granted in the self-government act, is not to be exercised, at least in the case of the power to make regulations. The power is not circumscribed by the self-government act in any way. It is a general power to be provided in any circumstance when a minister needs to act. I venture to say that there is at least an argument that Mr Stanhope's contention is in breach of the self-government act. At the very least one could say it is in breach of the spirit of the act, which is to allow ministers to act on each other's behalf.

Mr Stanhope obviously is still smarting over the making of regulations to do with maternal health regulations, Mr Speaker, and that is an argument for another day. Clearly, the power for ministers to act on each other's behalf is a very useful concept where you have problems arising out of such things as the exercise of a matter of conscience. Each minister administers legislation in any government where they may have a personal conflict as a result of a matter of conscience. A minister who administer health legislation, for example, which governs the conduct of abortions in public health facilities of the ACT will have to administer that act and those regulations consistent with his obligations under the law, but also where there are personal issues arising from that. If we were to say that no minister can serve as health minister if they do not fully agree with the full ambit of the law with respect to all the matters within that portfolio, and that concept could apply in lots of other areas of government as well, you have a very serious constraint on people's ability to hold those particular offices of state. It is much more sensible to have devices to avoid that problem should it arise.

The obvious device is the one that was used in the case of the maternal health regulations where Minister Moore felt personally unable to support the making of the regulation. It was, however, the view of the government that it should be made, and the regulation was

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