Page 5137 - Week 13 - Thursday, 29 November 2018
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Ms Lee and I came up with words during the consultation process that the recommendation be that this should not be an impediment to the commissioner investigating a matter, and I am a little uncomfortable about the wording as it currently stands in the legislation. I am not sure that that clarity is there. I think the words were that this should not be a bar to the commissioner investigating a matter. I think we need the capacity to look back at things and we need the assurance that the commissioner will not be barred from going down that path.
Mr Rattenbury is right that success has many fathers and failure is always an orphan so there is a level at which everyone wants to get on the bandwagon. The Greens want to say, “We said it first,” the Chief Minister wants to say, “We funded it,” but, as I have said before, the funding is an easy process. There was no kick-along to make it possible to happen, and it was not until Mr Coe introduced his legislation that there was any kick-along. I therefore congratulate Mr Coe and his office for the extraordinary amount of work they have put into this.
Mr Steel is also right: it is very difficult to draft legislation from opposition. It does not have the benefit of coordination, comments and the capacity to consult with agencies in the way the cabinet process does. That being said, the legislation brought forward by Mr Coe’s office was very good. I was marvelling at this the other day, because after Mr Barr introduced the legislation I went to the legislation register to print a copy of the bill and I inadvertently printed a copy of Mr Coe’s bill, reading it as if I thought it was the Chief Minister’s bill. I was reading along thinking, “Gee, they’ve done all these things we wanted them to do. This is really good legislation,” until one of Mr Coe’s staff assured me I was reading the wrong piece of legislation. After that the level of elation dropped off and there was a little bit of disappointment.
The question of funding is very important. Mr Coe touched on this and it caused me to have a little palpitation whilst sitting in the Speaker’s chair because it made me wonder whether the provisions for the Speaker to make a budget bid on behalf of the commissioner as an officer of the Legislative Assembly are set out in the legislation. They are not, but I think that the interaction of clause 21 of the bill and section 20AB of the FMA make it happen. Before this debate is over I would like the Chief Minister and Treasurer to confirm that is the case.
This has been a great job of work as I have said, and a large amount of work is to be done by the Speaker and the yet-to-be-appointed committee overseeing this legislation in the next few months, and that is why the commencement issues are very important. It seems to me that chapter 1 and parts 2.1 and 2.2 need to commence almost immediately so as to allow the Speaker to commence the selection process. But we also need a guarantee from the government that this will be commencing on 1 July as indicated.
I commend members of the various select committees for the work they have done and the officers and drafters for the work they have done over the last little while. suspect that over the weekend there was a lot of burning of the midnight oil. The bill is a great testament to the amount of work that is being done, but there may be some things that we will have to agree to amend later in the piece so we make sure that this is as workable as possible. I commend the legislation to the Assembly.
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