Page 597 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 4 July 1989
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In particular, we will be developing processes that ensure there is appropriate consultation and information flow between the police, the Government, the Assembly and the community. I have already had an initial and most productive meeting with Assistant Commissioner Bates, the ACT Regional Commander, and with representatives of the Australian Federal Police Association.
The Government will also consider the possibility of engaging an independent consultant, experienced in these matters, to advise on the relationship between the Executive and the police force, and any proposed structures or rules of conduct will naturally be open to public comment and scrutiny.
Mr Fitzgerald stressed that it is highly questionable as to whether the Government or the police should have any role in regulating the expression of public opinion, particularly in relation to street marches and demonstrations. I do not wish to dwell on this point, but this is one of the reasons why the Government would prefer that there be a proper period for public comment and consultation on the current proposal for increased police powers in relation to street behaviour.
Mr Speaker, the Government does not believe that there has been any suggestion of corruption in ACT politics, government or policing. One of the reasons for this has been the mechanisms of review and accountability applying to the administration of the city under the Commonwealth Government. My Government has moved swiftly to adapt and enhance these mechanisms of accountability, openness and consultation which will ensure that the ACT never needs a Fitzgerald inquiry.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition), by leave: It was with great interest that I discovered that the Chief Minister thought it expedient to make a statement, not only today but also as the first item of business of this session of the Assembly, on a subject that essentially relates to matters in a faraway State, and one that has been in existence for some hundred years or more, and then attempted to relate those matters to the independent State of the Australian Capital Territory, if I can call it that, which has been in existence for only about five or six weeks. Until I heard what she had to say, I really had to question its relevance and its importance for us.
Having heard what she has had to say, I am still not convinced, Mr Speaker, that it was a matter of such urgency and such importance that it needed to be brought up and take precedence over all other business on the notice paper of this Assembly at this time.
What the Chief Minister has said, of course, is mostly self-evident. There is nothing in her statement that you would not expect a leader of a minority government in a new
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