Page 53 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 December 2008
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for the improvement of the parliamentary process. The changes reflect the new parliament and we appreciate the support of the other parties.
Parliamentary standing orders articulating the rules of debate have been around since the 1700s and have taken a variety of forms and covered all manner of subject matter. It was not until 1870 that the New South Wales parliament adopted the standing orders as continuing resolutions, a practice continued in all Australian parliaments ever since. The Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government Act) 1988, section 24, provides the basis upon which our standing orders are created. We are fortunate to be part of an institution that has amended the standing orders relatively frequently to reflect the values of the Assembly of the day. House of Lords standing order 15, for example, provides for secret sittings at which only the lords, Clerks and Sergeant-at-Arms may be present. As I said, these amendments reflect the continuing evolution of the Assembly and the move to better processes as we learn from the experiences of the past.
Every public institution needs clear rules on the operation and procedures that govern their activities, and none more so than the Legislative Assembly. The gravity of the functions performed in this place is second to none. We have the capacity to change the direction of society and have profound impacts on every individual that lives in our community. We owe it to all of those we represent to ensure the processes we go through in determining the laws of the territory and the mechanisms available to the Assembly to scrutinise government action are something that the people of the ACT can be proud of and have faith in.
In many ways the ACT is the leading jurisdiction. We have progressive human rights legislation and have taken the lead on a number of social and environmental issues. However, at times, we have remained trapped in politics. Debates and the issues before the Assembly have been used as point scoring and small-mindedness rather than as a tool for good governance and accountability.
Question time has sometimes become almost farcical, with ministers being permitted to push a line on a particular issue rather than answer the question. Assembly Hansard has examples of answers to questions that make only a meagre attempt to answer the topic of the question. It is intended that, by amending standing order 118 and requiring that the answer be directly relevant to the question asked, this will no longer be the case and, in formulating questions, members will be able to simply state a question and have it answered without having to wonder about what sort of tangent the minister might take in response to it.
We often hear comments fired across the chamber in disrespect of standing orders. This does nothing to enhance the image of politicians or inspire confidence in the activities of the Assembly. With time, and in conjunction with the other initiatives, hopefully we will see a greater focus on the content of debates rather than political grandstanding.
Further, as part of this and in recognition of the greater role that the crossbench now plays in the Assembly, changes to standing order 69 and the time limits placed on speeches are being amended to ensure that each of the three party views represented in the Assembly gets an equal hearing.
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