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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 7 Hansard (6 June) . . Page.. 2005 ..
MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):
I think it might be appropriate, in a sense, to flag that matter at this stage of the debate so that it is possible for members to make suitable arrangements around that. Mr Speaker, this is supported by the opposition and I hope that we will have the chance to be able to have a full and appropriate scrutiny of the first Stanhope-Quinlan budget.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Statute Law Amendment Bill 2002
Debate resumed from 9 May 2002, on motion by Mr Stanhope:That this bill be agreed to in principle
Debate (on motion by Mr Hargreaves ) adjourned to the next sitting.
Cemeteries and Crematoria Bill 2002
Debate resumed from 16 May 2002, on motion by Mr Wood:That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR CORNWELL (11.45): Mr Speaker, I shall be brief. I am speaking on behalf of my colleague Mrs Cross. The Liberal Party will support this legislation. It is virtually identical to a bill tabled last year by the former Minister for Urban Services in the Liberal government.
I understand, though, there are a number of minor matters that are still to be resolved and the suggestion was that there is a proposal to send this bill to a committee after the in-principle vote today. If that is the case, the Liberal Party opposition will support the move to a committee.
MS DUNDAS (11.46): I rise today to say that the Australian Democrats will not be supporting this bill. This bill follows the national competition policy review of the Cemeteries Act and the Cremation Act and, given the existence of the national competition policy recommendation, I expect that both Labor and Liberal will support this bill with little debate, as we have already seen, without even considering rejecting national competition policy as it applies to cemeteries.
The Australian Democrats believe in competition but we are opponents of the current national competition policy. We accept that we need a national competition policy, but not this current policy.
Right from the start in 1995, my federal colleagues told the Labor and coalition parties that they were playing with fire in introducing the national competition policy in the manner that they did. Regrettably, the Australian Democrats have been proved right on this matter.
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