Page 290 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 1991
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Clause 5 agreed to.
Clauses 6 to 51, by leave, taken together, and agreed to.
Title
Amendment (by Mr Connolly) proposed:
Page 1, omit "Royal Commissions", substitute "Commission of Inquiry".
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (12.18): I was going to make a personal explanation before, but I thought I might use this opportunity just to make something clear from earlier in the debate. Mr Berry accused me of having some affection for royalty and seeking some knighthood or something as my motivation for - - -
Mr Wood: Check your diary.
MR HUMPHRIES: Yes, my diary is evidence of that. It is not the case, in fact. The point that I was making, and I think the Chief Minister and others in the course of the debate, was that the term "royal commission" has acquired a certain understanding in the public mind. That is the point. It could be called the junta or the "hunta", as it should be pronounced, Mr Connolly. The junta inquiry, or the cabal inquiry, or the Labor Party Caucus - whatever it was called - if it had that public understanding, and it was in the public mind, would be acceptable to be retained. That is the only reason I propose to retain the title "royal commission". It has a clear understanding in the public mind and denotes the seriousness or the intent of a government which appoints such a body to conduct some inquiry. It is nothing to do with my aspirations towards obtaining a knighthood.
Amendment negatived.
Title agreed to.
Bill agreed to.
INQUIRIES BILL 1990
Debate resumed from 13 December 1990, on motion by Mr Collaery:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MR CONNOLLY (12.20): We have debated this Bill cognately and the Assembly has now voted on the amendments circulated by the Opposition which would have changed the Royal Commissions Bill into a single Commissions of Inquiry Bill. We argued that it was an appropriate course of action and that the Inquiries Bill was unnecessary.
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