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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (31 August) . . Page.. 2711 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

I hope that members will accept the need to properly ventilate these issues in the committee context. I look forward to making a submission to that committee and to being part of that debate. I commend my motion to the house.

MR OSBORNE (11.01): I welcome this move by Mr Humphries to refer this legislation to the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety. Of concern to me was that I did not think enough work or consultation had been done by this Assembly for us to be in a position to pass the legislation, so I look forward to working with other members on this issue.

I am quite happy to attempt to have the report completed by the date that Mr Humphries has set down, which is, I think, the last sitting day in December, but a lot will depend on whether we actually get a government submission within the next six to nine months. We have had problems in the past with receiving submissions from the government, but I hope that this little shot across the bow will get some results. I look forward to the inquiry. Hopefully, with some assistance from the government in regard to that submission, we will get it finished in time.

MR HARGREAVES (11.02): Mr Speaker, I also want to make a point about the period our committees actually take to delivery reports to the chamber. That is dependent largely upon the receipt of submissions. I want the record to show that, in fact, the submission from the government about the prison was six months late and delayed the reporting process quite unnecessarily, in our view. Also, we are still waiting for the government's submission on the police inquiry. It was due early in May of this year. I have to record my lack of confidence in the government having the wherewithal to do it.

The Attorney-General accuses the committee system of not working properly. It is very difficult for a committee system to work without having the government's submission. In fact, I have my doubts that we can achieve the date of 9 December, which I think is the last sitting day this year. I may be a week out, but I think the last sitting day is 9 December.

I would imagine that the body of expertise in this town which addresses issues such as defamation is not that thick on the ground, so we will not have any difficulty with receiving submissions from the Law Society, civil liberty groups and, no doubt, Rural Press, but I have serious doubts as to whether the government will actually get off its tail and do something, so I want the record to show my fears about that.

The other point I would like to make is that I am quite looking forward to seeing the government's submission on this subject because of the third point that the government is asking us to look into, which reads:

I will be very interested in seeing whether the government's approach to compensation for damage to reputation mirrors its position when it changed the criminal injuries compensation legislation to eliminate the chances of most of our citizens of getting just

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