Page 1035 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 6 May 2014
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Mr Rattenbury made some people think that the call-in powers were going to be wound back. Well, they have not been. I would not be surprised if this bill was sold to Mr Rattenbury or his office as being the beginning of the end for call-in powers, and Mr Rattenbury thought that was a good thing. Well, if anything, it is even worse than the current arrangement because it is pretty much a call-in on the territory plan as well.
Dr Jenny Stewart responded to this:
… as I understand it, one of the rationales for the bill was that it is going to make the minister’s call-in powers more transparent, an objective I think which most people would endorse. However, on our reading of the bill, as put forward, it does not really do this at all.
Dr Denham also addressed this:
Having said that, when I first read the press release that Shane put out, I thought, “This is really good. We are going to abolish the call-in powers for all but these major projects.” I thought, “This is what we really want.” The Assembly is going to deal with the major projects and the call-in power is going to go. But that is not what is in the bill, as you well know. The call-in powers are still there.
It seems Mr Rattenbury got these people’s hopes us, and it is no wonder that every single witness expressed serious problems with this bill.
The opposition was opposed to this bill before, and our position has been reaffirmed by reading every submission and hearing every witness. Mr Wall and I put forward a report to the committee for consideration, and the committee was unable to form a decision about which committee report to endorse. It is for that reason that Mr Gentleman had to make a statement under standing order 250 that we were unable to choose a report.
It is all very well for Minister Corbell—having cited the minutes, as he said, even though they have not been published and they have not been circulated and have not left the possession of the committee—to say that it was the opposition’s fault for not putting together a report, but we have an alternate report which was not endorsed by the committee. That is a shame, because this report quotes from the many submissions and the many witnesses who said there are very serious issues with this bill—very serious issues. Many stem from the lack of consultation, but the vast majority stem from the substance of the bill itself.
It is disappointing that Minister Corbell’s motion does not also call for the tabling of the other report which the committee considered, but I understand there may be an amendment to Mr Corbell’s motion that will also enable this report to be tabled in the Assembly.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo): Madam Speaker. I seek your leave under standing order 46 to make a personal explanation.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Rattenbury, I am happy to give leave but normally—
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