Page 1864 - Week 09 - Thursday, 19 October 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I understand that in the Commonwealth Parliament the Regulations and Ordinances and Scrutiny of Bills Committees have the assistance of a legal adviser, independent of the Executive Government. I propose to discuss the need for such assistance with the chairperson of the committee. I ask that members join with the Government and support the formation of this committee.
MR HUMPHRIES (11.27): Mr Speaker, I might indicate that the Liberal Party is pleased to support this initiative. It is high time such a committee was seen in this place; certainly, this measure is long overdue. We welcome with open arms the creation of this committee. As the Chief Minister has indicated, this committee fulfils a role that has in the past been fulfilled by the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances and of course also the Parliamentary Committee on Scrutiny of Bills. It is ironic that, to some extent, with the advent of self-government, the role of those committees in the Federal Parliament which were so important for monitoring the performance of subordinate legislation in the ACT had to go by the board and that the ACT Assembly has not before now picked up that role in any way. For that reason, among others, we are very pleased to see this motion put forward.
Although it was not mentioned by the Chief Minister, the experience of recent weeks in the fluoride legislation debate has also highlighted the need for legislation of that kind and others to be examined carefully by appropriately constituted committees - in this case this committee.
Now I want to emphasise one point made by the Chief Minister. She mentioned that such committees in other places generally receive independent advice. They have a fairly well constituted backup of committee support with proper advisers and lawyers to give advice. I think that is a very important point to make in this context as well. We cannot allow ourselves to think of this committee in quite the same way as any other committee where the bulk of the work is done in a sense by members hearing evidence. We very much need this committee to have good technical backup and good technical support staff, able to provide expert advice on the form of legislation, the way it affects other legislation, what happens in other States and territories, how this will impact on the rights and liberties of individual citizens, and matters of that kind.
I hope that the Chief Minister, who is glowing with good intentions in moving this motion, does not at the same time forget the need to provide this committee with the necessary resources to do its job properly. I emphasise again: this committee, above many others we have set up, does need that support and backup. With those words, Mr Speaker, I would simply commend this motion to the Assembly.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .