Page 2174 - Week 06 - Monday, 11 May 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
“what an odd tradition”. I note that another odd tradition perhaps has been adopted by the Speaker with the donning of the traditional neckwear chosen by men for formal occasions. We congratulate you on your tie, Mr Speaker.
Sometimes, though, tradition has a role to play and indeed a very important one. Even the notion of addressing this Assembly through the chair of the Speaker reminds us of the importance of the matters we debate and discuss in this place and that we are representing our people and our parties as well as our personal views.
We can also learn from our traditions and our other parliaments to form a better functioning and more flexible parliament for the people. In this Assembly we have extended the hours we sit and the processes that govern that sitting, to move towards more direct representation. We have a particularly busy schedule during private members’ day to offer counterpoint proposals to those of the government. In this Assembly we have seen question time standing orders modified to encourage ministers to answer the question instead of giving a stump speech of their choosing; we are still working on that one. It is all designed to make this a parliament of openness and accountability that continues, I think, to serve the people of Canberra better than many other jurisdictions of a similar size.
The 20-year anniversary is a time to reflect on where we have been and where we wish to go. What is the ideal size of the Assembly? There is no correct answer. While it will inevitably grow in the future, when should this occur, and how many members is the correct number?
Similarly, it is now time to have a look at the self-government act, that piece of legislation which operates as a de facto constitution. There is no doubt that a number of provisions within it are archaic. The ongoing restriction on the Assembly determining its composition is problematic, for example. However, any move to allow the Assembly this freedom needs to come with some checks and balances, such as the need for a special majority. It is time for the ACT Assembly to have more autonomy while recognising the important democratic principle of checks and balances. Now is the time, however, to have the debate.
The Chief Minister mentioned a number of things that we have to be proud of. He mentioned the number of women who have played prominent roles in this Assembly and that is something indeed in which we take great pride. We have also seen a number of firsts, which have been mentioned, including one which has not been mentioned, which was that it was a female Chief Minister, Kate Carnell, who led this Assembly as the first jurisdiction to apologise to the stolen generations. That is a moment of which we can all be very proud.
The last part of this motion speaks to the thanks we would like to extend to the work of former members and officials of the Legislative Assembly and the bodies that preceded it. It is true that this is the official marking of the 20th anniversary of self-government in the ACT. This obviously did not occur overnight. It was a long process, and some of my former colleagues and the forebears of the Liberal Party in Canberra were an integral part of that process that finally got self-government going in the ACT. To those who pioneered the way I offer my congratulations and gratitude. Although all have deserved recognition, I would particularly like to recognise my
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .