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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2501 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

of the people of Canberra, rather than trying to score silly little political points by ramming a Bill through when they know Mr Berry is not ready for it. If Mr Berry is not ready for it, you ought to let it go. Next time Mr Berry will have had adequate time to consider it and you will have every right to expect it to go through.

If I had been the Leader of the Opposition and the spokesperson on electoral matters and if I had had Mr Humphries's proposal before me before this morning, then I would not have had any problem with it going ahead; but Mr Humphries cannot drop proposals on the Opposition at the last minute. He cannot drop proposals on a new spokesperson who has had the responsibility for only one week and expect to be shown any respect at all. The reality is that Mr Humphries has always had contempt for the democratic process. He has always been just a little bit too smart, and he is being a little bit too smart now. This matter ought to be adjourned and Mr Humphries ought to go away and have a bit of a think about what democracy is really about and whether democracy means ramming things through parliament when they know that there is a new person responsible for the area who is not yet ready to debate it.

MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition) (11.51): Mr Moore indicated in the last couple of days that he was going to put this on the agenda for private members business. I think he might have mentioned it last Friday - I am not sure.

Mr Moore: I indicated it to you at the Administration and Procedure Committee meeting last Wednesday, a week ago.

MR BERRY: Anyway, I did not say that I did not want it to go on. It was my intention to try to look at all of the matters involved in it. I am not satisfied with the process. One of the major concerns I have about the ACT electoral laws is that over the past few years I do not think we have had two elections where the electoral laws have not been interfered with in one way or another. I just do not think that is a great pattern that, as a matter of principle, one should be setting.

Some people might argue that it is only a little change; others might argue that it is a significant change. I seem to recall that it is not the change that was recommended by the Electoral Commissioner. I do not know how the Government has weighed that up in its thinking on the matter. On the four-year terms issue, it seems as though governments are a bit like nervous Nellies. On the face of it, it smacks a bit of experimentation. It is about time that some issues were left to settle.

That is my in-principle position. I am not in a position at this point to discuss the detail of the matter. I have indicated to Mr Moore that I want to see this debate adjourned. If the Government, Mr Moore and the Greens decide to ram the Bill through, so be it; but I point out that I am not satisfied that this is not merely experimenting with electoral laws for the political purposes of those opposite. I will need to be convinced before I support amendments to the electoral laws. It is my sincere belief that there has been a bit too much of this going on in a lot of respects in the ACT - - -

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