Page 2395 - Week 11 - Thursday, 2 November 1989
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Nevertheless, I shall say no more on the matter of consultants, which I am sure will raise its ugly head again in a matter of weeks when Mr Collaery's amendment is put, but in the meantime we support the Bill, as amended.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister) (12.08): I would like to make a couple of remarks in reply to some of the speakers. First of all, Mr Kaine made the point that there are already some consultants whose employment status may be affected by this amendment, and that is the case. Both Mr Whalan and I have one consultant each on our personal staff, and we will be making alternative employment arrangements for those two people so that they will not be disadvantaged by this proposed amendment.
I think that Mr Stevenson's lengthy comments today demonstrate his absolute intransigence on this matter and demonstrate most particularly why it is so very difficult to get an agreed arrangement on consultancies. He is absolutely determined to have his own way in this, as in all other matters. He is not amenable to reasoned argument on the subject and, Mr Speaker, I know that he has not complied with your requests and directions in this matter, just as he has not complied with mine. While he maintains that attitude and finds some support in this Assembly, the amendment that I have proposed is the only possible solution.
Mr Speaker, the Government does believe that there are particular circumstances relating to Ministers and relating to the ministerial portfolio responsibilities that should be taken into account in the provision of consultancies and that there are differences between the responsibilities and roles of a Minister and of a member of the Assembly who does not have that portfolio responsibility.
However, as I said, we are prepared to forgo our requirement for consultants in order to get this overriding legislation passed. Mr Collaery has drawn attention to a letter from the acting deputy legislative counsel, and I object most strenuously to his raising that matter when in fact - - -
Mr Collaery: We wrote to you and asked you to look into it; no answer.
MS FOLLETT: Mr Speaker, I support totally the comments made by the acting deputy legislative counsel and, in order to clarify the reason why I support his view, I would like to read to the Assembly the appropriate part of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988. In section 65(1) it says:
An enactment, vote, resolution or question (any of which is in this section called a "proposal") the object or effect of which is to dispose of or charge any public money of the Territory shall not be proposed in the Assembly except by a Minister.
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