17 November 19831 479579

[Thursday, 17 November 19831 479579 sideration and your petitioners as in duty 1flgi~tfilue Anaenbig bound, will ever pray. Thursday, 17 November 1983 I certify that the petition conforms to tlie StandI- ing Orders of the Legislative Assembly. The SPEAKER: I direct that the petition be The SPEAKER (Mr Harman) took the Chair brought to the Table of the House. at 10.45 am., and read prayers. (See petition No. 57.) INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SELECT COMMITTEES Job Security Test Case: Petition Appointed as Honorary Royal Commissions: Mo- MR O'CONNOR (Mt. Lawley-Leader of the tion Opposition) [10.46 a.m.]: I present a petition MR TONKIN (Morley-Swan-Leader of the from 13 residents of the Avon region praying that House) [10.48 am.]: I move- it be known that they do not support the appli- (1) That where a Select Committee of cation known as the job security test case which this House has not finally reported the ACTU has brought befre the Common- at any time during the current wealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. session of Parliament: and They humbly pray that the Western Australian Government will reject any similar application in (2) Where the members of such Select Western Australia. Committee are appointed as a Royal Commission pursuant to s.8 The petition conforms to the Standing Orders of the Royal Commissions Act of the Legislative Assembly, and I have certified 1968; and accordingly. (3) The terms of reference of the Royal The SPEAKER: I direct that the petition be Commission so appointed are sub- brought to the Table of the House. stantially those of any such Select (See petition No. 56.) Committee, the Clerk of the Assembly is hereby author- EDUCATION: PRIMARY SCHOOL ised and directed to transmit to the Royal Huntingdale: Petition Commission so appointed, upon its request. any evidence, document, or thing, taken by, MRS HENDERSON (Gosnells) [10.47 am.]: I or presented to, or connected with, the in- have a petition from 201 citizens of Huntingdale quiry conducted by any such Select Com- and it reads- mittee. To: I understand that only one Select Committee has The Honourable the Speaker and Mem- been established this session-that is, the one in- bers of the Legislative Assembly of the Par- quiring into alcohol and drugs-and that it is the liament of Western Australia in Parliament desire of the committee, a desire with which the assembled. Government concurs, that it be converted into an Honorary Royal Commission. This motion is to We, the undersigned are concerned that facilitate that process. our children, who attend Huntingdale Pri- mary School are being penalized by the over MR HASSELL (Cottesloe-Deputy Leader of large classes at that school. We believe that the Opposition) [10.49 a-in.]: I take it the purpose an Education Department formula regarding of this motion is to facilitate the business of a Sel- ect Committee which is turned class sizes has been broken with no regard for into an Honorary Royal Commission. the welfare of our children. We understood that this Government was pledged to reduce Mr Brian Burke: That is correct. class sizes. If this is so it is not now apparent Mr HASSELL: It is a mechanical thing. From to us. We request that immediate steps be what the Leader of the House has said I do not taken to appoint to the Huntingdale Primary know what the difficulty is that the Government School the number of teachers to which it is is trying to overcome. What has happened in the entitled under the Education Department's past? Perhaps some difficulty has arisen staffing formula. Mr Tonkin: Not that I know of. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray Mr HASSELL: The Government will under- that you will give this matter earnest con- stand that we want to know precisely what this is 4796 4796[ASSEMB LY] about. I wonder whether some problem has arisen terial disclosed to a Select Committee of the or whether the Government is contemplating a House is confidential and anybody who discloses problem arising related to something it will be it to anybody else is liable to the stiff penalty as doing in the future or something it will want to be provided in the Criminal Code. Something of this doing. sort is needed to allow the Secretary of the Select Mr Tonkin: We want to convert it into an Committee to write to himself in the different ca- Honorary Royal Commission and we need to have pacity seeking the material in order to cover him- continuity between the two bodies. If the Clerk is self. not empowered to transmit the information re- Mr CLARKO: Apparently only one Select ceived by the Select Committee to the Honorary Committee exists at present, and this motion is to Royal Commission, which consists of the same accommodate that committee. However, will it people, you would have an hiatus. I think it is nor- create the situation in the future where all Select mal practice. Committees will move to the other category. Mr HASSELL: I am not raising an objection Mr Parker: No. to the motion; I am simply trying to clarify Mr CLARKO: But the motion does not name whether a problem has arisen or whether the the committee. Government is contemplating some change to the way things operate. Mr Parker: It talks about the present session of the Parliament. Mr Parker: It involves confidential information being transferred from one legal entity to another. Mr CLARKO: But it does not refer to the Sel- ect Committee on alcohol and drugs specifically, Mr HASSELL: Has this problem not arisen and if it meant to refer to that committee one before? would think it would name it. Mr Tonkin: I understand this is normal prac- Mr Parker: What about if next week the House tice. I am not familiar with other Select Com- decides to set up another Select Committee? mittees, so I cannot tell. Mr CLARKO: I could be disproved readily, Mir HASSELL: We are not apprised of what but I believe that in the past if we wanted to do the Government is about by what the Leader of something of this nature we enumerated the Sel- the House has said; however, we will not object to ect Committee. the motion. There is some deficiency in the expla- nation Car it, though. Mr Parker: It does not go to any definite committee, but it does go to any committee set up this MR CLAUI(O (Karrinyup) [10.51 am.]: I have session. a recollection that, in the past, if a Government were trying to do something like this, it would Mr CLARKO: Why has the Government name the Select Committee involved; the Govern- chosen not to name the committee, whereas in the ment would say that it was perhaps the committee past I believe such committees have been named? inquiring into the dairy industry which was want- Why was this course not taken in the past? ing to move to the other path. This motion ap- In regard to part (3) of the motion where it pears to be open-ended. Is it open-ended for all refers to the terms of reference of the commission Select Committees to become Royal Commissions being "substantially those of any such Select from hereinafter or are the provisions oC the mo- Committee", I am somewhat intrigued about the tion only to deal with this one Select Committee legality of the term "substantially". It seems that and then they will evaporate? I have been of the this will open a Pandora's box as to the terms of opinion that, in the past, this move Cram a Select reference we can have. The motion is universal. Committee to an Honorary Royal Commission Does it mean the Government has in mind the ap- has been automatic. pointment of another Select Committe? If it does I have never known a case where it was necess- not, why did it not specify the committee? ary for materials to be passed from a Select Com- MR THOMPSON (Kalamunda) [10.55 am.]: mittee 10 an Honorary Royal Commission. It Our Standing Orders need to be amended to over- seems that in the past the procedure was that the come the necessity for a motion such as this to be Select Committee moved to its next stage and passed. There have been many occasions during adopted the title oC Honorary Royal Commission my experience in this House where the life of the while its perrormances, powers, and so on were, in Parliament has been extinguished and Select effect, the same; iCnot, they were similar. Committees have not had time to report. Indeed, I Mr Parker: As I see the problem it is this: was a member of a couple of those Select Com- Under the Standing Orders of this House, ma- mittees. [Thursday, 17 November 1983) 479779 Mr Tonkin: You were chairman of one particu- Mr CRANE: 1 was never aware- larly infamous one, if I remember correctly. The SPEAKER: Order! There is absolutely far M r T HOM PSON: A fa mous one. too much conversation going on around this Mr Tonkin: An infamous one. Chamber, and I ask that members desist. Mr THOMPSON: It was non-productive, I Mr CRANE: That is why I have had to ask might say, because of a certain lack of co-oper- these questions; it was impossible in the early ation. It would be sensible to amend the Standing stage to hear what was said. That is not a Orders to allow material that has been placed be- reflection on the Leader of the House; I was fore a Select Committee to be transferred to an trying to hear him but people from the back Honorary Royal Commission.

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