Mr STIRLING - 1995-08-17
I refer the Chief Minister to the interview on radio yesterday with the political commentator, Dr John Hepworth. In that interview, it was confirmed that every jurisdiction in Australia, with the exception of Tasmania and ourselves, has an independent electoral process. Will the Chief Minister act to make our electoral process independent or does he think that an independent electoral process is simply not important in a jurisdiction moving along the path to statehood?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, one can only speculate as to what members opposite mean by the word `independent'.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: They would know that the bill that will come before the Assembly later today provides for what is essentially an open-ended appointment of an electoral officer by the Administrator.
Mr Ede: Garbage!
Mr STONE: Have you read the bill?
Mr Ede: Of course I have read the bill!
Mr STONE: Does it say that?
Mr Ede: It is not an independent electoral commission ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: Does it say that there is a time frame on the appointment?
Mr Ede: Does the Administrator act under the instructions of ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition has an opportunity to ask further questions if he chooses, and he will ask them through me.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition will refrain from speaking over me.
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Mr STONE: The laziest Leader of the Opposition in Australia sits opposite. Had he bothered to peruse the legislation, he would have seen that the appointment is to be open-ended. Compare that with the way the Commonwealth act works. There, it is a 5-year term. Consider a further provision which provides that the Administrator has to be satisfied about before the electoral officer can be dismissed.
Quite obviously, `independence' means different things to different people. I understand that, in Victoria, the so-called electoral officer has to go cap in hand to the Minister for Finance to negotiate his one-line funding. That, in itself, is a control on how an office conducts its affairs. Has it ever occurred to the member for Nhulunbuy that the 2 jurisdictions which have a similar working structure are the 2 smallest jurisdictions - Tasmania and the Northern Territory - and that they are places where the electoral office has a workload beyond the conduct of territory and state elections? There just may be very good reason for having a system with a degree of accountability. Doesn't the member for Nhulunbuy accept even for one moment that Territory taxpayers expect a degree of accountability and look to their Chief Minister to provide that?
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: In the same way, Tasmania's electors and taxpayers expect accountability from their Premier.
Mr Ede: The DPP is not and the Ombudsman is not.
Mr STONE: If we went down the pathway that members opposite suggest, we would have a whole raft of offices which would be ostensibly independent. Why don't we make the Registrar-General and the Surveyor-General independent? Why don't we just throw money at them and let them employ their staff in a vacuum of independence? They can all have long lunches and talk about how they run their form of government. The proposal is absolute nonsense.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, one can only speculate as to what members opposite mean by the word `independent'.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: They would know that the bill that will come before the Assembly later today provides for what is essentially an open-ended appointment of an electoral officer by the Administrator.
Mr Ede: Garbage!
Mr STONE: Have you read the bill?
Mr Ede: Of course I have read the bill!
Mr STONE: Does it say that?
Mr Ede: It is not an independent electoral commission ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: Does it say that there is a time frame on the appointment?
Mr Ede: Does the Administrator act under the instructions of ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition has an opportunity to ask further questions if he chooses, and he will ask them through me.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition will refrain from speaking over me.
Page 722
Mr STONE: The laziest Leader of the Opposition in Australia sits opposite. Had he bothered to peruse the legislation, he would have seen that the appointment is to be open-ended. Compare that with the way the Commonwealth act works. There, it is a 5-year term. Consider a further provision which provides that the Administrator has to be satisfied about before the electoral officer can be dismissed.
Quite obviously, `independence' means different things to different people. I understand that, in Victoria, the so-called electoral officer has to go cap in hand to the Minister for Finance to negotiate his one-line funding. That, in itself, is a control on how an office conducts its affairs. Has it ever occurred to the member for Nhulunbuy that the 2 jurisdictions which have a similar working structure are the 2 smallest jurisdictions - Tasmania and the Northern Territory - and that they are places where the electoral office has a workload beyond the conduct of territory and state elections? There just may be very good reason for having a system with a degree of accountability. Doesn't the member for Nhulunbuy accept even for one moment that Territory taxpayers expect a degree of accountability and look to their Chief Minister to provide that?
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: In the same way, Tasmania's electors and taxpayers expect accountability from their Premier.
Mr Ede: The DPP is not and the Ombudsman is not.
Mr STONE: If we went down the pathway that members opposite suggest, we would have a whole raft of offices which would be ostensibly independent. Why don't we make the Registrar-General and the Surveyor-General independent? Why don't we just throw money at them and let them employ their staff in a vacuum of independence? They can all have long lunches and talk about how they run their form of government. The proposal is absolute nonsense.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016