Page 5202 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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In addition to the one-off effects outlined above, the effect of the new arrangements is that payments will be received 28 days after the end of each quarter rather than in two six-monthly sums in November and May. The interest benefit resulting from these changed arrangements is estimated to be approximately $250,000 per annum at interest rates currently applying.
Standing Committee on Conservation, Heritage and Environment
DR KINLOCH: Mr Speaker, on Tuesday, 11 December, Mr Moore asked me a question about a cancelled meeting - cancelled at my request - of the Standing Committee on Conservation, Heritage and Environment which was to have been held on Tuesday, 4 December, at 2.00 pm. In order to answer that, I needed to consult my diary.
At the time I requested that the meeting be cancelled I was at home trying to cope with an attack of a chronic and painful ailment from which I suffer from time to time. It is a condition which recurs suddenly without notice. I then take medication to relieve it. The condition clears up within a day or so usually; but on this occasion, alas, there were not enough pills left and the medication had gone beyond the expiry date.
One of our staff members, with whom I consulted by phone, arranged for a medical appointment at the first possible opportunity. I also consulted by phone the secretary of the committee. He rightly reminded me of the problem then of a quorum of three out of five. One member of the committee, Mrs Nolan, was in Perth on the business of the committee. The deputy chairman, Mr Stefaniak, had another engagement in his role as Executive Deputy to Mr Collaery. Therefore, from home and by phone, I cancelled all three of my Legislative Assembly related engagements for Tuesday, 4 February - they were at 10 o'clock, 2 o'clock and 5.30 - and asked the committee secretary to relay the decision about the 2.00 pm appointment to those affected.
I come now to another part of Mr Moore's question - "To what extent was your concern for the vulnerability of your position as chair of that committee where there is prestige and allowance an influencing factor in that decision?". I completely reject any notion that I remain chair of the committee to advance either my prestige or my income. Whatever prestige I may or may not have does not depend, I assure you, on being chairman of a Legislative Assembly committee; nor have I a pecuniary need to maintain the minimal allowance which is awarded to chairs of committees.
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