DOCSLIB.ORG

25 Years of the Office of the Tasmanian Ombudsman

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
25 Years of the Office of the Tasmanian Ombudsman 25 Years of the Office of the Tasmanian Ombudsman On 31st January 1979 Royal Assent was given to the Ombudsman Bill passed by the Tasmanian Parliament, leading to the creation of the Ombudsman that has for 25 years provided an independent office for the investigation of complaints concerning administrative actions of government. It was therefore twenty-five years ago that Tasmania completed the circle by which the Australasian adaptation of the Swedish concept of Justitie-ombudsman, begun with the appointment of Sir Guy Powles in New Zealand in 1962, was extended to all Australian governments. Western Australia appointed a Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations in 1971, followed by the appointment of an Ombudsman in Victoria and South Australia in 1972, New South Wales and Queensland in 1974. The Commonwealth Ombudsman, appointed in 1977, also had responsibility for investigating complaints relating to the administration of the Australian Capital, and an Ombudsman for the Northern Territory commenced operations in 1978. Rarely, however, has an Act of parliament had such a long and tortuous process within the legislative system. From June 1970 to January 1979, the concept in various forms, was considered within parliament; and for most of that nine years, a Legislative Council Select Committee operated as an Ombudsman committee. Various individuals have claimed the credit for bringing to the attention of (Sir) Angus Bethune the New Zealand system for the investigation of administrative complaints, but it is undeniable that the creation of such an office was a plank in the election platform of the Liberal Party that formed Government (in coalition with the Central Party) under the premiership of Mr Bethune following the election of 1970. Under this mandate, the Attorney-General, (Sir) Max Bingham introduced the Parliamentary Commissioner Bill 1970 to the House of Assembly on 17 June 1970. Having passed the lower house, the bill was debated in the Legislative Council on 16 and 17 September 1970, after which the bill suffered the ultimate humiliation (in parliamentary terms) when the Council passed a resolution “bill be read a second time on this day six months” (a parliamentary devise effectively shelving the measure indefinitely). Newspaper accounts of the debate indicate that there were concerns as to the necessity for such an office and the likely expense of such an office. The Government persisted, and re-introduced the measure as the Parliamentary Commissioners Bill 1971. In the face of this determination, the Legislative Council adopted another tactic, appointing a Select Committee to “enquire and report upon the bill and such complaints of administrative actions against authorities specified in the schedule of the bill as might be made to the committee within twelve months”. The Legislative Council thus established a Select Committee on Complaints of Administrative Actions, which became known as the Ombudsman Committee, and in the following six months, received and began the process of investigating complaints. With the proroguing of parliament in February 1972 to provide for the general election the bill and the committee lapsed. This lead to the intriguing situation whereby complaints had been received by the Legislative Council and it became necessary to re-establish the committee in order to investigate the complaints received. Overall the Committee was to remain in force until 1979, publishing reports as parliamentary papers on completed cases and generally upon the operation of the committee and of complaints about administrative actions generally. Meanwhile the Labor Party, having opposed the concept in 1970 and 1971, reconsidered the idea both in the light of the work of the experience of the Legislative Council and, perhaps more importantly, a consideration of issues of administrative law reform whereby citizens could be provided with a realistic and affordable means for citizens to test administrative actions or decisions. A tentative step was taken in 1975 with the Administrative Complaints Committee Bill 1975 designed to establish a Statutory Standing Complaints Committee of the Legislative Council but that measure lapsed with the proroguing of parliament in December 1975 before the General Election and was not reintroduced following the election. It was not until 7 November 1978 that the measure was reintroduced as the Administrative Complaints Bill 1978 only to be withdrawn and replaced by the Ombudsman Bill 1978 on 28 November 1978. The House of Assembly agreed to amendments suggested by the Legislative Council on 14 December 1978, Royal Assent was given on 31 January 1979 and the Government advertised in May 1979 for an Ombudsman for Tasmania. In the words of a newspaper editorial (Mercury 9 November 1978) it was the “dogmatic insistence that the Committee could be just as efficient and cheap and for the Labor Government took so long to come round to the Liberals’ thinking” and caused Tasmania to be the last Australian parliament to enact Ombudsman legislation rather than the first. There were advantages in being the last – the experiences of Ombudsman in other jurisdictions as well as the Legislative Council’s Ombudsman Committee could be incorporated into the Tasmanian legislation, and the first appointee could call upon the experiences of colleagues in other states for guidance. The Act should also be seen in the context of commonwealth/state relationships of the day as provision was made for the Tasmanian Ombudsman to act as delegate of the Commonwealth Ombudsman and for the Commonwealth to contribute to the financing of the office; a variation on Commonwealth/State cooperation that in some other states had seen the sharing of office and other resources, but not delegation. Thus Tasmanians were provided with a ‘one-stop shop’ providing Ombudsman-type services for Commonwealth, State and Local Government, an arrangement that continued until 1995 At the end of May 1979, the Government announced the appointment of C R (Dick) Woodhouse as Ombudsman, and he set about the task of creating an office, selecting staff, and actually receiving complaints almost from the first day of the announcement of his appointment. Having established his office (on the sixth floor of the Reserve Bank building) and selected his staff, all was in readiness for the proclamation of the Act on 10 September 1979 and the commencement of the Office of the Ombudsman. Based on the experience of other jurisdictions, Mr Woodhouse estimated that he would be likely to receive 400 complaints in his first year – in fact he received 588 plus 60 uncompleted cases transferred from the Legislative Council. In public statements, addresses and annual reports, Ombudsman right from the start have emphasised the essential features of the legislation. Independence of the office, the ability to investigate impartially and to make recommendations for remedial action where the Ombudsman forms an opinion that there is defective administration. The Ombudsman’s strong powers of investigation are balanced with powers only to make recommendations, and to make reports where those recommendations are not carried out. “Ultimately it is the scrutiny of Parliament which is brought to bear on the complaint.” Mr Woodhouse retired from the position of Ombudsman on 31 December 1984, the deputy, Mr Michael Dixon, acting as Ombudsman until the appointment of Mr Roger Willee in September 1985. The Ombudsman Act 1978 contained a ‘Sunset Clause’, a provision designed to ensure parliamentary scrutiny of the legislation after it had been in operation for a nominated period. Such sunset clauses have now been replaced by provision in legislation for review and report to parliament such as contained in the Health Complaints Act 1995 but the existence of the sunset clause in the Ombudsman Act 1978 meant that an amendment was required in order that the office could continue beyond September 1984. The sixth Annual Report of the Ombudsman bemoaned the fact that the Act, having expired one month before the re-establishment act was debated, prevented the parliament from taking the opportunity to vigorously review the operation of the office. With the appointment of Mr Willee as Ombudsman, the government of the day decided to extend, rather than abolish, the sunset clause, and the issue was well and truly flagged prior to the expiration of the second period. Mr Willee argued that the experience of the office over almost ten years had demonstrated the need and value of the office and urged the Government to make the office permanent. Initially the Government announced a further extension of the sunset clause, but ultimately determined that the continuing need for the office had been established, and legislated to remove the sunset clause. Having determined that the office was to be ‘permanent’, the Government decided to advertise the position of Ombudsman rather than renew the appointment of the incumbent. This decision, combined with political events following the General Election held in May 1989, was to involve considerable controversy and much discussion of aspects of the role of the Ombudsman. The selection process following advertisement of the position had not been finalised before the State Election, following which the Premier, Mr Robin Gray, no longer commanded a majority in the House of Assembly. Subsequently the Government was defeated on the floor of the House of Assembly and, following the resignation of Mr Gray as Premier, Mr Michael Field,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Theausfrau~ Unlversmes'review
    THEAUSfRAU~ UNlVERSmES'REVIEW 3 SF: or CIo,. Encounter. ot lhe Tertl.ry Kind - Neil Ndason 11 COOfdlnatlon 01 Terti.ry Edue.tlon In Au, tr,ll, - R E pary 15 Fed'f.llntervlntlon In Au.lf,llIn EducaUon: Put, Pr••• nt end Future - W 0 Neal 20 Crl,l, Mln.gemlnl - TBfry Hare 28 The URi",,.lly T•• ch,r Strike. - or Almo.U - Kevlfl HI'1C8 35 Unlversitl •• snd T•• ch" Tr.l"i"g - Alan Barcan 42 Opening Tertl.ry Educ.non - Some Implications 0' Olff.r,nl App,.,.ch.. - Bram Smith .1 The Adjustment 01 Mature Age Unm.triculilled Entflnt, to lIf. I I Intern. I Studlnt • • t the Unlver.lly of New E"gllnd: A Pilot Study - David Walkins 52 Ac.demic St.ft Alloc:.tton Procedure. In In . tltullan. In Au,tr,lI, - ISH GMaon and E POlio 55 ReYle. and letler 10 the Editor PUBLISHED BY FAUSA VOL. 22. 1979. No. 1 ISSN 0042-4560 Journal 01 the Federation of Australian University Siall Associations 1979 Vol. 22 No 1 EDITOR Vestes will In future be published tWice a year, once in April and Mr. J. E. Anwyl, once in November. Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University 01 Melbourne Editorial Policy BUSINESS MANAGER Vestes is the journal 01 the Federation of Australian University Staff Mr, L. B. Wallis, Associations. It aims to be a forum for the discussion of issues con· General Secretary, fronting Australian universities with particular reference to those Federation of Australian University Staft Associalions, matters which concern FAUSA and its member associations.
    [Show full text]
  • Paradoxes of Protection Evolution of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and National Parks and Reserved Lands System
    Paradoxes of Protection Evolution of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and National Parks and Reserved Lands System By Dr Louise Crossley May 2009 A Report for Senator Christine Milne www.christinemilne.org.au Australian Greens Cover image: Lake Gwendolen from the track to the summit of Frenchmans Cap, Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Photo: Matt Newton Photography Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................. 1 1. THE INITIAL ESTABLISHMENT OF PARKS AND RESERVES; UTILITARIANS VERSUS CONSERVATIONISTS 1915-1970....................................................................... 3 1.1 The Scenery Preservation Board as the first manager of reserved lands ............................................................ 3 1.2 Extension of the reserved lands system ................................................................................................................... 3 1.3The wilderness value of wasteland ........................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Inadequacies of the Scenery Protection Board ...................................................................................................... 4 2. THE ESTABLISHMENT AND ‘GLORY DAYS’ OF THE NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 1971-81 ........................................................................................... 6 2.1 The demise of the Scenery Preservation Board and the Lake Pedder controversy
    [Show full text]
  • Structure and Ideology in the Tasmanian Labor Party
    Structure and Ideology in the Tasmanian Labor Party: Postmaterialism and Party change ,- By Peter James Patmore LL.B., Dip. Crim. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements fo r the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania, March 2000 II This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of my knowledge and belief no material previously pubJished or written by another person except where due acknowledgment is made in the text ofthe thesis. ................�................. �---=;,.......... Peter Patmore 23" February 2000. III This thesis is not to be made available for loan or copying for two years fo llowing the date this statement is signed. Following that time the thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Peter Pa tmore 23'" February 2000 iv ABSTRACT The Tasmanian Labor Party has found itself, like many western social democratic parties, recently subject to challenge; not from its traditional enemy, the economic right, but froma new postmaterialist left. This thesis considers the concept of postmaterialism, its rise and role in the fo rmation of new ecocentric political parties, and its impact on the structure, ideology and electoral strategy of the Tasmanian Labor Party. Maurice Duverger's typology of political parties has been used to elucidate and consider the characteristics and fo rmation of political parties and the importance of electoral systems - particularly proportional representation - in achieving representational success.
    [Show full text]
  • 9A Commissioner of Police
    Submission to the Joint Select Committee of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly on ethical conduct, standards and integrity of the elected Parliamentary representatives and servants of the State August 2008 Commissioner of Police J Johnston CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 The Operational Independence of the 4 Commissioner of Police 3.0 The Capacity of Tasmania Police to 10 Conduct Independent Investigations 4.0 Other Existing Mechanisms 16 5.0 Ethics Commission – Recommended Model 26 6.0 Summary of recommendations 33 7.0 Conclusion 35 Attachment A – Draft Guidelines Concerning the Release of 36 Information Concerning Political Investigations Attachment B – Outline of Complaint Process for Alleged 39 Misconduct in Recommended Model Attachment C – Summary of Features of Other Anti-Corruption 41 Bodies Bibliography 47 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION There is no single institution which can provide a panacea to the problem of corruption or misconduct. Instead, a diversity of agencies, laws, practices and ethical codes are required to effectively tackle misconduct and promote integrity (Brown, 2005). The existing mechanisms available in Tasmania to respond to misconduct and promote integrity include: Parliament; The Ombudsman; The State Service Commissioner; The Auditor-General; The Director of Public Prosecutions; Tasmania Police; Commissions of Inquiry; and Legislation – including the Freedom of Information Act 1991, the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2002, and relevant provisions of the State Service Act 2000 and the Local Government Act 1993. Mechanisms such as codes of conduct help to promote integrity, while mechanisms such as freedom of information legislation and the oversight provided by parliamentary committees and the Auditor-General promote transparency.
    [Show full text]
  • The Assertion of Tasmanian Aboriginality from the 1967 Referendum to Mabo
    THE ASSERTION OF TASMANIAN ABORIGINALITY FROM THE 1967 REFERENDUM TO MABO BY Dennis W. Daniels B.A., B.Soe. Admin. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Humanities University of Tasmania, December 1995. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except when due reference is made in the text of the thesis. 'd dd Denn~sDaniels November 1995. Acknowledgments I wish to express my appreciation to Gillian Biscoe, Secretary of the Department of Community and Health Services, for permitting access to relevant material, and for Mary Bailey for facilitating the process. I am particularly grateful to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for approving the project and to those who granted personal interviews. Personal thanks to Tony Marshall of the Tasmanians section of the State Library. Thesis Abstract The Assertion of Aboriginality in Tasmania From the Referendum to Mabo This paper takes as its starting point a period before the 1967 Referendum which gave full citizenship rights to Australian Aborigines and the Federal Government a mandate over Aboriginal Affairs. During the 40's and 50's the Aboriginal people of Tasmania, represented by the people of Cape Barren Island, stubbornly resisted the assimilation policies of the day. In briefly examining the thesis of resistance as proposed by Lyndall Ryan in her 1981 edition of The Aboriginal Tasmanians, and the proposition that the Government sought to abandon the Island, the paper draws upon new material.
    [Show full text]
  • Transcript(PDF 152.82
    CORRECTED EVIDENCE ELECTORAL MATTERS COMMITTEE Inquiry into the conduct of the 2014 Victorian state election Melbourne — 12 August 2015 Members Ms Louise Asher — Chair Mr Russell Northe Ms Ros Spence — Deputy Chair Ms Fiona Patten Ms Lizzie Blandthorn Mr Adem Somyurek Mr Martin Dixon Staff Executive officer: Mr Mark Roberts Research officer: Mr Nathaniel Reader Witnesses Mr Geoffrey Goode, president, and Dr Jeremy Lawrence, treasurer, Proportional Representation Society of Australia. The CHAIR — Mr Goode and Dr Lawrence, thank you so much for coming along to the committee to give further clarification of your very comprehensive submission. It is much appreciated. I advise you that you are covered by parliamentary privilege for these hearings, but parliamentary privilege does not apply to any interviews you may wish to give to the press — not that I think that would make a huge difference to your evidence. Could you please state your full name and business address, if you have a business address, just to clarify for the committee whether you are appearing as an individual or on behalf of your group. Then perhaps you might address some points in your submission, and then we will throw it open to some questions. Mr GOODE — Geoffrey William George Goode. My address is 18 Anita Street, Beaumaris, 3193. The CHAIR — You did not have to give your private address, but that is all right. Mr GOODE — It is the address of our organisation. The CHAIR — Okay. Thanks. Mr GOODE — It is also my private address. Dr LAWRENCE — My name is Jeremy Lawrence, and I am here representing the Proportional Representation Society’s Victoria-Tasmania branch.
    [Show full text]
  • Library Promotion C'tee of Tas Libraries and the End of the New Feudalism
    LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE OF TASMANIA OPENING OF AUSTRALIAN LIBRARYLIBHARY WEEK ,: } HOBART, 20 SEPTEMBER 1985 f ·Cii .~ .;; LIBRARIES AND THE END OF THE NEW FEUDALISM ,t ~ u :;~' ;}l ! 'k~ J! LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE OF TASMANIA OPENING OF AUSTRALIAN LIBRARY WEEK HOBART, 20 SEPTEMBER; 1985 LIBRARIES AND THE END OF THE NEW FEUDALISM The Han. Justice M.D. Kirby, CMG* LIBRARIES IN THE AGE OF SCIENCE: The theme of my address is that libraries, like the law and other institutions of our society must adapt to times of rapid change. The watch word of our time is change. How could it be otherwise? It is the fate of this generation to live at a moment of history when great social changes coincide with (and are stimulated by) mighty technological developments. Most generations can boast of one great technological innovation - the invention of the long bow, the development of the musket, the advance of the steam engine, the discovery of electricity, the first flight. But it is the fate of this generation to experience, at once, three scientific and technological changes of the greatest importance. I refer, of course, to nuclear fission, biotechnology and the microchip - informatics, robotics, laser technology, computers and artificial intelligence. These social and technological changes interact with each other. They create enormous challenges, including for ou~ supply of information services. They will revolutionise the role and function of libraries. Indeed, the revolution has already begun, including here in Tasmania. - 2 - Everyone who has grown up in the world of books (as we all have) will know how important it is to see the future in the setting of the past.
    [Show full text]
  • The Politics of Parks
    The Politics of Parks A History of Tasmania’s National Parks 1885-2005 Debbie Quarmby BA (Social Work) Postgraduate Diploma (Public History) This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Murdoch University 2006 Acknowledgements: The author is grateful for the valuable contributions to this thesis made by: Librarians at the Archives Office of Tasmania, DPIWE library, Tasmanian State, Parliamentary and University libraries; The Tasmanian Environment Centre; Interviewees (listed in the Bibliography); DPIWE staff who assisted with maps and data; Family and friends who proof-read and helped in many ways, and Murdoch University, particularly my supervisor Dr. Lenore Layman. Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution. Debbie Quarmby Contents Page Abstract i Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Part 1 Gentlemanly Accommodations: Politics of Consensus Chapter 2 Naturalists and Tourism Promoters form a Tasmanian National Parks Movement 31 Chapter 3 Success for Tasmania’s National Park Movement 63 Part 2 The Scenery Preservation Board: Compromise and Loss for National Parks Chapter 4 Between the Wars, 1920-1940: The Initial National Parks Movement Wanes 94 Chapter 5 Growing Conflict, Inadequacy and the Florentine Failure: The Scenery Preservation Board in the 1940s and 1950s 118 Chapter 6 The 1960s: The Beginning of Modern Environmentalism and Fall of the Scenery Preservation Board
    [Show full text]
  • Download Tasmanian Chapter
    Chapter 9 – Tasmania Roller-coaster ride for local liberties Rights and liberties were probably uppermost in the minds of the first prisoners transported to Van Diemen’s Land (VDL) in 1803, but convicts don’t write the histories of peoples or states. What the prisoners of Port Arthur thought about the principles involved is not well documented, and lies buried like the bodies on the Isle of the Dead. Details of the floggings, escapes, burials – things that can be counted and tabulated – are generally available, but not the philosophies of inmates in what was one of the world’s first “model prisons”. In the future, the period from first English settlement in 1803, through becoming a colony separate from New South Wales in 1825, to the official naming of the island as Tasmania in 1856, will be explored in detail from a liberties, rights and freedoms perspective, but that task awaits other historians and commentators. For this telling, snapshots of the system are all that is gleanable. One unlikely champion of civil liberty in the first century of the European occupation of the island was the State Governor, Sir Henry Edward Fox Young (photo), in 1855. He stepped in when the Legislative Council (LC)1 tried to order Dr Hampton, comptroller-general of prisons, to appear (before it) to give evidence. Hampton refused, so the LC issued a warrant for his arrest. Hampton retaliated by serving a writ of habeas corpus on the Speaker and the serjeant-at-arms. The LC applied to the governor to authorise the police to apprehend Dr Hampton.
    [Show full text]
  • Federal Labor in Opposition
    In the Wilderness: Federal Labor in Opposition Author Lavelle, Ashley Published 2004 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School School of Politics and Public Policy DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/1005 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366181 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au IN THE WILDERNESS: FEDERAL LABOR IN OPPOSITION Ashley Lavelle BComm (Hons) (Griffith University) Presented to the Faculty of International Business and Politics Griffith University in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2003 Abstract This thesis is a study of the federal Australian Labor Party (ALP) in Opposition. It seeks to identify the various factors that shape the political direction of the party when it is out of office by examining three important periods of Labor Opposition. It is argued in the first period (1967-72) that the main factor in the party’s move to the left was the radicalisation that occurred in Australian (and global) politics. Labor in Opposition is potentially more subject to influence by extra-parliamentary forces such as trade unions and social movements. This was true for this period in the case of the reinvigorated trade union movement and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, whose policy impacts on the ALP under Gough Whitlam are examined in detail. While every one of the party’s policies cannot be attributed to the tumult of the period, it is argued that Labor’s Program embodied the mood for social change. The second period (1975-83) records a much different experience.
    [Show full text]
  • View Newsletter [PDF,196KB]
    The Australian Development Studies newsletter no. 2 t ~\~ iO!ij{ 1 November, 1984. Dear Colleague, Warm greetings to Network colleagues. This Newsletter reports briefly on the symposium on 'aid and development' held in conjunction with the 54th ANZAAS Conference; the publication of the Reports of the Jackson and Goldring Committees; the relationship between the N~twork and the Development Studies Centre; the next Network seminar scheduled for Decemb~r 12 covering practical approaches to overseas student policy; planned 1985 seminars for the Network; and a new face to help in developing and consolidating the Network. The first Newsletter was well received, drawing only one critical comment that the reported discussion of the 1983 seminar on "Australian Universities' Relations with Developing Countries" did not specifically include political science and administration as disciplines which have made a significant contribution to development studies. In fairness to the people who attended that seminar, most would have acknowledged the importance of political science and administration as disciplines within development studies. Indeed, the World Bank's 1983 World Development Report devotes considerable attention to management and administration as critical bottlenecks in the development process. Aid and Development Symposium The theme of the symposium held on 17 May, 1984 in conjunction with the 54th ANZAAS Conference was 'aid and development: poverty alleviation or stimulus to growth'. The lead speakers who addressed the symposium were Professor Michael Lipton of IDS Sussex, Mr John Birch who is Chairman of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid, and Mr Neil Batt a member of the Jackson Committee and a former Deputy Premier of Tasmania.
    [Show full text]
  • Parochialism, Politics and the Tasmanian Press
    Parochialism, politics and the Tasmanian Press: A study in the politics of Journalism. by Stephen J. Tanner A dissertation submitted to the Department of Political Science, University of Tasmania, for the Degree of Master of Arts. Department of Political Science 1990 (i) DECLARATION: This dissertation represents my own work and contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma, or any copy or paraphrase of material written by another person, except when due acknowledgement is made. Signed: ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In researching and writing this dissertation, I was given invaluable and timely assistance by a number of people, and it is to them that I express my sincere thanks. To my wife, Kath, for her encouragement, understanding and assistance, particularly in the months following the change of government when I was able to commit myself totally to this project. To Dr Richard Herr of the Political Science Department, for his encouragement, patience and advice through this and the Masters (qualifying) Program. He was very understanding of my other commitments and did all he could to assist me. To those interviewees - Mr Bryan McKendrick and Lloyd Whish-Wilson of the Examiner and Mr Jim Harris and Mr Henry Catchpole of the Advocate - whose personal involvement added an important dimension to this study. To Mr Terry Newman and Mrs Heather Thurstans of the Parliamentary Library for the use of facilities and research material. To Mrs Sandy Wittison for typing a great deal of the draft information. And finally, to those many people who provided the back-up, the advice and the encouragement, particularly my colleagues at work who were very understanding while the paper was being researched.
    [Show full text]