Mr BURKE - 2001-10-25
Attorney-General, given the legislation that you have rushed through the parliament this morning, and the form that it is in, can you confirm that the government has yet to decide whether to reappoint the Chief Magistrate should the Federal Court rule the original appointment invalid and that, in fact, you may not reappoint him?
ANSWER
I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I certainly can confirm that the government has yet to decide on whether to reappoint on not reappoint the Chief Magistrate, in the event that the Federal Court brings down the decision that his appointment is currently invalid. The reason we have not decided that is that we have not seen the judgement of the Federal Court as yet. I made that very clear in the debate that we have just concluded. I think the Leader of the Opposition has persisted with this against all odds.
We will give a decision, as a result of the court decision, as quickly as possible once it comes down. There is no value to the justice system to have this uncertainty go for any longer than necessary. I would like to restate that the uncertainty we find ourselves in is through the actions of Shane Stone, the previous Chief Minister, which were failed to be validated by the Leader of the Opposition when he was Chief Minister. He had two requests from Queen’s Counsel to put validating legislation through this House. He chose to do nothing, he left us with the mess, and we are fixing it up.
ANSWER
I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I certainly can confirm that the government has yet to decide on whether to reappoint on not reappoint the Chief Magistrate, in the event that the Federal Court brings down the decision that his appointment is currently invalid. The reason we have not decided that is that we have not seen the judgement of the Federal Court as yet. I made that very clear in the debate that we have just concluded. I think the Leader of the Opposition has persisted with this against all odds.
We will give a decision, as a result of the court decision, as quickly as possible once it comes down. There is no value to the justice system to have this uncertainty go for any longer than necessary. I would like to restate that the uncertainty we find ourselves in is through the actions of Shane Stone, the previous Chief Minister, which were failed to be validated by the Leader of the Opposition when he was Chief Minister. He had two requests from Queen’s Counsel to put validating legislation through this House. He chose to do nothing, he left us with the mess, and we are fixing it up.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016