Page 2548 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 15 November 1989
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as a representative of the Residents Rally. He no longer represents that group, so by remaining on the committee he deprives the Rally of their proportional representation on this committee in particular, and then all the appointments to committees in general. So I respond to Mr Moore's rhetorical question as to whether the committee system should be tampered with to suit an individual. The answer is no, and I do not support his bid to remain on this committee for that very reason.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister) (12.12): I find this a very, very sad debate indeed, Mr Speaker. The Residents Rally party is seeking yet again this morning to silence a voice from amongst this Assembly. It is quite clear to me that there is a remedy for this situation that is available without taking that sort of drastic action.
Mr Speaker, it must be said that the Residents Rally party does not own this committee. I cannot believe their proprietorial attitude towards it. They think that, as it was their idea, they must have a member of the residual Rally party upon it. That is quite incorrect. The committee that we have under debate may indeed have been the idea of somebody within the Rally party but that does not give them any right over and above another member to membership on that committee.
I have found it quite outrageous that, in seeking to impose a right which I do not believe they possess, they seek at the same time to deny another member the right to be on that committee. It is a serious indictment of this Assembly, Mr Speaker, that the Residents Rally party continually seek to silence the voices of members of this Assembly. I wish they would take a good look at themselves - when they gag the debate, when they seek to deny people positions on committees, when they continually interrupt me when I am speaking - and look at how this Assembly might operate if people were permitted to have a full and equal say on all matters. This is clearly not a situation which the Residents Rally party can cope with, and they seek to unduly influence these sorts of matters and to use their numbers. In their view, might is right, and they deny other members a chance to speak and to contribute to the work of this Assembly.
Mr Speaker, I take on board Mr Kaine's continual interjection concerning the standing orders, and standing order 221 in particular, which says:
Membership of committees shall be composed of representatives of all groups and parties in the Assembly as nearly as practicable proportional to their representation in the Assembly.
I do not believe that that standing order in any way gives any party a right to representation on any committee, nor do I believe that that standing order can, or should, be interpreted to deny a
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