Select Committee Upon The Legislative Assembly

About this Item
Speakers - Irwin Mr Geoffrey; Chappell Mr Raymond; Price Mr John; Moore Mr Timothy
Business - Committee, Report

SELECT COMMITTEE UPON THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET ALLOCATION

Report

Mr IRWIN (Fairfield) [1.2]: I am pleased to contribute to debate on the report of the Select Committee upon the Legislative Assembly Supplementary Budget Allocation. As a member of that committee I am pleased with the report, which will be welcomed by all members of this House. Though time for deliberation has been short, the committee consulted with members by way of questionnaire. The report reflects the desires of most members of this House in regard to priorities for allocation of available resources. I note in particular the recommendation about expenditure of $495,000 for a one-off purchase of equipment for members. The priority needs expressed by members are mainly for improved communications and information processing equipment. Ongoing recurrent funding will be available from time to time for that purpose. A preference has been shown for the availability and establishment of networking communications and information processing equipment for the offices of members. Those expressed needs reflect the awareness of members not about a change in role but a change in the way members work in and through the Parliament.

In the time I have been a member significant upgrading of facilities has occurred. Word processors and other computer-based facilities in electorate offices have been a great boon to members. Those members who may have had reservations when that equipment was installed would be now most reluctant to give up those facilities. Imminent changes in technology will open up opportunities for members to work more efficiently and effectively and to maintain closer contact with constituents in the electorates and thus enhance their role as members of Parliament. I commend the recommendations of the report. The recommendations of the report, once implemented, will enhance the ability of members to fulfil their role and better serve their constituents. The people of New South Wales will be better served by the provisions outlined in the recommendations of the report.

Mr CHAPPELL (Northern Tablelands) [1.5]: I support the report of the Select Committee upon the Legislative Assembly Supplementary Budget Allocation. The report makes possible, for the first time since I became a member of Parliament, a degree of reasonable support for the conduct of the affairs of members of Parliament in their respective electorates. There is great diversity among members of this Chamber in the way they go about their tasks, not so much by personal choice but out of sheer necessity.
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The smallest electorate in this State covers about seven square kilometres. One could not begin to calculate the number of square kilometres in an electorate the size of Broken Hill. Before the last election the electorate I represented comprised 23,500 square kilometres. The electorate that I now represent covers about 21,000 square kilometres. The manner in which members serve such disparate electorates varies significantly. Members receive an electorate allowance to defray costs in serving their electorates. Members have been given similar equipment, services and facilities. Many members in country electorates and in the metropolitan area experience considerable shortfalls, in servicing their constituents.

Recently I was sitting in the members' parliamentary dining room when the Premier walked past and I said to him: "Mr Premier, do you realise our need for mobile communications? I desperately need a car phone to enable me to serve my electorate". The Premier asked me, "Why would that be?" I was able to tell him that the following day I was going to spend seven hours during the day, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., in my car, mobile, and my staff and I would be disadvantaged in being able to do any constructive work. Driving for seven hours a day is not my idea of serving my electorate. With a mobile communications system, to wit a telephone, I would be able to communicate with my electorate secretary if she needed to contact me and with any government officer who needed urgent contact. I would also be able, as the need arose and in safe driving conditions, to communicate with my office and various constituents during a day on the road. A mobile telephone is of fundamental importance to me, but I realise that other members do not have that need.

Other members may need different pieces of equipment, a different service or facility. The committee has taken steps to respond to the specific needs expressed by members about the services and facilities they require. I support, as the report implies, that members of Parliament need additional research staff, library facilities and better electronic communication between electorate offices and parliamentary offices. In time we will become smarter in facilitating our roles as local members serving our electorates. The report is a most important first step in the process of equipping electorate offices and assisting individual members to best carry out their roles, not for their own satisfaction but for the service of their constituents. The report is ideal. I have enjoyed the opportunity to serve on the select committee. I commend the committee's report to the House. I look forward to fine tuning our resources, services and facilities as we go about serving the people of New South Wales.

Mr PRICE (Waratah) [1.10]: I shall be brief in my comments. I am delighted to support the report and the role of my fellow members on the Select Committee upon the Legislative Assembly Supplementary Budget Allocation. Most of the things that need to be said have been said. I wish to reinforce the comments of previous speakers about the recognition of the individual needs of a member in his or her electorate. The need varies significantly between the inner and outer metropolitan areas and the provincial and country areas of the State. The honourable member for Northern Tablelands has sung the praises of the opportunities he would have through access to a mobile telephone. No doubt a number of other committee recommendations will be seen by members as giving positive support to serve their communities better. Members of Parliament now have slightly larger electorates and more people to represent and therefore need quicker access, better communications and a greater ability to deal with problems quickly and fairly.

I congratulate the chairman on his conduct of the committee and my fellow committee members for their diligence during their deliberations on their report. The writing of the report was rushed, though perhaps at a later stage there may be an
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opportunity to do further work on it. That decision will be made by others and translated to the Parliament in due course. I particularly wish to note the services of Mr Mark Swinson, made the committee move along at the pace that was necessary and allowed committee members to have the full benefit of hearing the evidence of the officers of the House. The committee had the benefit of his vast experience in preparing reports in an easily readable form. I draw the Government's attention to the recommendations, particularly those on page 7, and look forward to early application, through the Speaker's office, of the full recommendations.

Mr MOORE (Gordon), Minister for the Environment [1.12]: I wish to reply briefly and in a limited fashion to the report presented to the Parliament by the Select Committee upon the Legislative Assembly Supplementary Budget Allocation. As a member of the Executive Government, it is not appropriate for me to comment on the details of the recommendations about facilities for members, and I do not propose to do so. I propose to deal with the comments on page 7 of the report about the possible legal difficulties that honourable members face by virtue of having an electorate office lease that is not a Crown lease. That may place them in difficulties so far as holding an office of profit under the Crown. Though there may be some members of the Opposition who would be attracted to having the Premier and me removed and made the subject of a by-election as a result of a disqualification, using this as a trigger mechanism, I believe it is sufficiently ecumenical that the Parliament could lose up to 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the members of the Chamber as a result.

For five or six years the Premier and I shared a joint electoral office in a local shopping centre that acted as a centre for our electorate populations until the recent redistribution. It is clearly desirable that we look at the legal problems brought to the surface by the Solicitor General's advising and, if necessary, amend the statutes, particularly the Constitution Act, in regard to the provision of services by the Parliament or by the Government to members for the purposes of carrying out their duties as members of Parliament - and any ancillary and minor private use that might result from that. For example, honourable members have computers in their electorate offices. Occasionally, my daughters play a computer game on the computers. One would not want that minor ancillary private use to cause disqualification. Therefore, there will be a need to provide in any legislative adjustment for such ancillary private use to the mainstream purpose. The position, I am sure, would be well understood by honourable members.

I note the committee suggested that there will need to be an ongoing role. I have foreshadowed to the honourable member for Pittwater - and I am sure in this regard I will be enthusiastically supported by the honourable member for Ashfield - that the committee may need to be reappointed in the near future to supervise the ongoing process of funding. I think the present members of the committee would be suited for that purpose. It is also an important first tentative step for this Parliament to give members control over their own destiny in the budgetary and expenditure processes of the Parliament. I look forward to introducing in the first half of next year legislation on behalf of the Government, as discussed with Independent members, for the establishment of some sort of parliamentary commission for the management of the party. I thank honourable members for their participation in the committee.

Motion agreed to.

[Mr Acting-Speaker (Mr Tink) left the chair at 1.17 p.m. The House resumed at 2.15 p.m.]

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