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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Tuesday, 24 August 2004) . . Page.. 4016 ..

the time to quite a lot of the stuff we actually set on to the government and indeed to private members as well in relation to their bills.

I thank our legal adviser. He has provided wonderful assistance to the committee and it has been an absolute pleasure working with him. It has also been a pleasure working with the secretariat staff who have assisted us, including the now Clerk. He has handed over to his deputy, Max. Welcome aboard, Max. It is great to see the support we receive from the secretariat in relation to the committee.

Finally I thank my colleagues John Hargreaves and Kerrie Tucker for their diligent approach to these issues. It was a pleasure not only being associated with them on the committee but also to attend the scrutiny of bills meeting we had in Hobart in February 2003. Whoever is on the scrutiny committee next year will be hosting a conference early next year. That no doubt will be a very interesting conference.

The role of the scrutiny committee has become even more relevant by way of statute now in terms of Mr Stanhope’s Human Rights Act. My personal opinion of that act is well known. I am not going to go into that. Needless to say, that increases, I think, the role and scope of the committee. The committee has actually been very mindful of those types of issues, especially through the various reports we have been bringing down during this Assembly, on rights issues not only in Australia but also around the world. A considerable amount of case law has actually been established in other countries.

We hope the reports we have provided to the Assembly have been of use to Assembly members. I thank everyone involved with the committee for their diligence and assistance this year. It has been a pleasure chairing the committee.

MR HARGREAVES: I seek leave to make a statement.

Leave granted.

MR HARGREAVES (11.55): I rise to support the comments made by the chairman of the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs acting in the role of a scrutiny of bills and subordinate legislation committee—a mouthful if ever there was one. I would just urge succeeding assemblies in fact to consider whether or not it is appropriate to have those two committees being combined or whether they need to be separated.

I would like to express my appreciation to my colleagues on the committee. Mr Stefaniak is chair. It has been a very easy process to go through committee meetings during the life of this Assembly with Mr Stefaniak in the chair. I thank Ms Tucker for her contribution. I know it has been a very steep learning curve, Ms Tucker, notwithstanding the length of service here because I do not think there was a particularly deep understanding of the role of the scrutiny of bills and subordinate legislation committee. Indeed I do not know whether that understanding on the part of Assembly members is all that deep. You soon get to know people you have seen on the committee.

I think it is important that we recognise, as Mr Stefaniak has done, the role that Peter Bayne has had in the committee in both of the two Assemblies that I have been a member. He actually performs a couple of roles. The first one is of course to advise us on the content of bills and subordinate legislation, but also he has made a very significant

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