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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Wednesday, 18 August 2004) . . Page.. 3836 ..

Let us look at some of the issues that Ms MacDonald raised. Ms MacDonald said earlier that this year we have already sat late on many occasions. Fourteen of the 27 days that we have sat this year have been late sittings, and some of them have been very late sittings. However, if we refer to the figures for last year we see that 11 of the 43 nights that we sat were late sittings. In the first year of this Assembly seven of the 39 nights that we sat were late sittings.

On many occasions we did not sit until 6 pm or 6.30 pm. On most nights this year we have gone home before 6 o’clock because the government has not provided us with enough business. So this issue is not really about late sittings; it is about the government, the manager of government business and ministers getting their act together and scheduling business in an orderly fashion so that we do not have to sit inordinately long times. The government should not put, as it did a couple of sittings ago, three enormous bills on the program on one day and insist on getting through them.

There are real concerns about this motion. What we are really looking at is a government-imposed gag. Ms MacDonald said earlier that people spoke too long and that they spoke just for the sake of speaking. We have a right to speak in this place. That is our job. When this Assembly sits our job is to discuss the matters of the day and the bills that are placed before us. We have a right to speak in this place. Members of this government, who would like to get home, put up their feet and watch the footy should not gag us, which is what this motion boils down to. When we are not here doing our job we are out in the community going to community functions.

Last night I did not attend a meeting at Belconnen Community Council as I was doing my first and most important job as a member of parliament. If I had not been at the Assembly I would have been at that council meeting. That is true of all sorts of things. Ms MacDonald said that we should have more contact with our children. Today I am not at Miles Franklin Primary School listening to my daughter singing in the choir, as it is a sitting day. Last week I would have liked to be at Miles Franklin Primary School listening to my daughter singing in the choir but I discovered that parents were not invited to that government event.

Members and staff have a well-run office and they have more flexibility than do most people in general employment. Apart from the 40-odd days a year when we sit, we do have flexibility. We have the flexibility to say, “Do that at home”, or “Do it tomorrow”, or that sort of thing. We can encourage our staff to work at home so that the phones do not distract them. We can organise our offices so that we have flexibility and so that this place is family friendly. We are being told by some members that having to work 40-odd days a year is not as family-friendly as they would like, but that is what we sign up to do.

We must address this issue as it relates to secretariat staff, as they do not sign up to work long hours, which is what we do. Secretariat staff do not sign up to the political lifestyle in the same way that our staff or we do. Our staff come here in the knowledge that they have to work long hours, despite the fact that this government provides them with measly overtime. Secretariat staff are in a different and difficult position and we should be mindful of those issues. When we are sitting late we must be mindful of the fact that most staff are on overtime and that there are requirements under the EBA that we must

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