Page 1022 - Week 03 - Thursday, 21 March 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Mr Coe interjecting—
MR BARR: I understand that you object to certain elements of the legislation, but it did not require you to seek to defer the whole lot. You can do exactly what you are going to do in the detail stage and oppose certain elements. That is entirely reasonable, and that is what I understood you to be doing, until you floated, at the beginning of the debate, that we should adjourn it. I find it ironic that in the course of the debate I then get chipped by those opposite for not doing this quickly enough, when you come into this place and want to defer it because you do not like some elements of the legislation. It is fine for the opposition to oppose elements of this legislation, and we will go through those. But why did you even raise deferring it?
Mr Coe: Because you might have said yes.
MR BARR: Why do it at one minute to midnight, when we are just about to debate the bill? Why not raise it before?
Mr Coe: What if you had said yes?
MR BARR: If I had said yes, you would have criticised me for delaying the legislation again. You would have criticised me. You would have said, “Unnecessary delays on this legislation.” You cannot have it both ways.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Two things: Chief Minister, through the chair; Mr Coe, enough.
Mr Coe: I shouldn’t be collaborative.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Coe, it is late in the day. I have not quite warned you, but I have asked you to stop.
MR BARR: “Collaborative” might have been to have raised the issue at any point in the intervening time after the introduction of the bill, not coming into the chamber at one second to midnight with a proposal completely from right field. Anyway, we will get on with the detail stage of the debate, and that is good. It appears that we will have unanimous support for some elements of the legislation and that the opposition will oppose other parts, as is their right. I present a revised explanatory statement and commend the bill in its entirety to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Detail stage
Clauses 1 to 3, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Schedule 1, part 1.1 agreed to.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video