Page 114 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 7 December 2004
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
really have a very bad opinion of us out there in the community. All I can say is that they now have further cause to say, “Oh, that’s right; that’s the Assembly; lazy; just want to do a 9 to 5 and go home.”
Ms MacDonald is right. We have families. We have people who do not want us sitting here all hours of the day and night but, unfortunately, we signed up for that. We get paid for the full period of the time that we are here. We are never off watch. Sorry, but that comes with the territory. I think that what is being proposed today is unhealthy because it is going to stifle debate; it is going to prevent us, contrary to what Mr Quinlan says, repeating things.
Mr Quinlan: I thought you were standing up for your community.
MRS BURKE: Sorry, would you like to say something, Mr Quinlan?
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Burke has the call.
MRS BURKE: It is disappointing that Mr Quinlan and others treat this place with such contempt and I am really disappointed that we are not allowed to stand up here and say what we feel and to represent our constituents. I think it is disappointing that the ministers sit there scoffing at the opposition and crossbenchers because we want to do a job. We are paid and elected to do a job.
What have we got here? Finishing at 6 o’clock and maybe sitting some Fridays. The government is the one that needs to get some discipline, I suspect, Mr Speaker. We had a torrent of legislation poured onto us at the end of the Fifth Assembly. How organised was that? Not! Come on, surely now we have a prime opportunity to have proper sitting days, not meddling with it, to be able to rise at a sensible hour anyway.
Mrs Dunne is quite right: there are some very heavy and weighty things that have been debated in this place. We need to remember that. We do not have anywhere else to pass this stuff. Being a unicameral parliament, we are it. To hamstring us in this ridiculous way is just not democratic as far as I can see. I think we well know what the community’s feedback is. All of us know. They are not very appreciative of the fact that we are just going to close the doors at 6 o’clock and to all intents and purposes go home—well, some in the government seats might be. The opposition is out there in the community. Four and a half hours of debating time, I heard Mrs Dunne say. What’s that going to do, given the weighty issues that we have debated in this place?
I am for a family friendly workplace, and it will be now. But there has to be a reason why we are in this place, and it is not to work 9.00 to 5.00. I think this has gone one step too far. I agree with Mr Quinlan: there is a lot of time wasted in this place. I agree with Ms MacDonald; she is right. But I believe what you are proposing to do now will stymie debate; it will switch us off when we want to be responding to things that you do not want to hear. You do not want to hear our response to things. It is unfair and undemocratic.
I will leave it there. We have made our case. The Liberal opposition are not in agreement with what is being put forward today. We certainly will not be supporting it. We are defenders of the jobs that we do for the broader community, and this to me is indicative
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .