Page 238 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 December 2008

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And their record in the Assembly is one of voting for this. It is a record of voting for this very motion that we are debating today and which the Greens are seeking to amend through Ms Hunter’s amendment.

We do not agree with the amendment. We do not believe it makes sense. We believe it does give the government the out that they are looking for. We also believe very strongly that it is one thing to talk about keeping the government accountable, but if you agree with them on all of these things, particularly things like ramming through legislation and hiding documents, they will continue on their merry way in much the same way that they did. There might be a few changes at the edges, at the margins, but I do not think that is what the people of Canberra voted for. They did not vote for changes at the margins; they voted for significant change. They were very unhappy with what they had from the government in the last Assembly.

What we are seeing to date, post election, is that not much has really changed. Are they still able to ram through legislation without any debate? Yes, they are going to do it this week. Are they still able essentially to decide how many sitting weeks we are going to have? Yes, it appears so. Are they able to continue to hide documents which go to the fundamental decision making of government and go to the fundamental delivery of services in the ACT? Yes, they are. They are continuing along their merry way. So the question for the Greens as this Assembly progresses will be: do they want to allow them to continue on their merry way with a few statements of principle along the way, a few minor changes, or do they actually want to keep them accountable? The story to date, this week, is that the government will continue pretty much as it has in the last term with, of course, the need for a few more negotiations before they get to their desired outcome.

MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (4.35): I just want to acknowledge that we agree with many of the arguments raised by Mr Smyth; they are compelling and they do reflect the position adopted by the Greens in the past. Having said that, this is a new Assembly, there are new mechanisms and there will be new mechanisms put in place to resolve disputes. We are honouring our commitments to accountability and transparency and in the next sitting period this will be resolved. I have to say it does not seem that the opposition has read the agreement because this amendment will be set up for the long term. As we have said previously, this is not just about some point scoring in the Assembly; it is about putting in place a long-term process so that we do not have this situation happening. We are not stopping the document from being released, and if the opposition had looked at the agreement closely, it would see that it is about putting in place independent arbiters so that we have a process in place to look at documents.

In relation to Mr Seselja’s point about the sitting week, as with the changes to the standing orders, the increase in hours results in about an extra 3½ weeks of sittings. So I think they may also want to do their sums in terms of sitting weeks.

Question put:

That Ms Hunter’s amendment be agreed to.


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