Page 1053 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 1991
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When this Bill was introduced I indicated to the Government that we would be happy to discuss the Bill with the Government. The Attorney-General was kind enough to take up that offer and I discussed it with the Law Office. They had a couple of queries and I referred the Bill to Mr Hunt QC, the chief parliamentary counsel for the Territory.
There were a number of changes and, in discussion with Mr Hunt, I felt that it was probably more appropriate, rather than to have further amendments to my amending Bill, to simply seek leave of the house to discharge the Subordinate Laws (Amendment) Bill standing in my name and to substitute an equivalent Bill which I will be seeking to introduce later this day. The reason for seeking this discharge from the notice paper is to replace the Bill presently on the notice paper in my name with an improved version.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
SUBORDINATE LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL 1991
MR CONNOLLY (11.00): Mr Speaker, I present the Subordinate Laws (Amendment) Bill 1991.
I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
Mr Speaker, this Bill is, as foreshadowed, the substituted and improved version of a Bill that I produced some fortnight ago, and I will not repeat the comments I made in the introduction speech then. The central effect of the Bill remains to provide, in this place, for deemed disallowance of legislation to ensure that no government can prevent this Assembly from having ultimate control over subordinate legislation. Should a piece of subordinate legislation be introduced and a member take exception to it, it will not be within the power of the government of the day to filibuster. As I made clear at the outset, this is not any form of partisan attack. We are talking about the government of the day well into the future and that, we confidently expect, would be more likely than not a Labor government whose subordinate laws will be being objected to.
As I said at the time of the original introduction of the now withdrawn Bill, this gives effect to a very important principle; that it is this Assembly that has the ultimate say over the laws in this Territory, and that the control of this Assembly and the right of every member of this Assembly to move disallowance is very important.
I have discussed this Bill with the Attorney-General and I hope that I may have some support from the Government. If this Bill is passed the ACT will stand alone with the Commonwealth in affording to private members this important
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