❓ Mr. Rundle questions the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs regarding the speed of the Aboriginal Heritage Legislation Amendment and Repeal Bill 2023, seeking guarantees of adequate review time and access to proposed regulations. The Minister defends the government's approach, citing the previous government's use of urgent bills and public support for the legislation.
AnsweredQoN 462Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ABORIGINAL HERITAGE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT AND REPEAL BILL
2023 — DEBATE
462. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs:
I refer to the tendency of the WA
Labor government to use the Parliament as a rubber stamp, such as in the case
of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, which was rammed through 24 hours
after the initial briefing was provided to the opposition.
(1) Will the
minister guarantee the opposition will be provided with an appropriate amount
of time to review the amendments to the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 and that
debate will not be guillotined?
(2) Will any
proposed regulations be provided prior to the bill to restore the 1972 act
being debated in both houses of Parliament to ensure the full extent of the new
system can be understood and considered?
The SPEAKER : Before I give
the minister the call—I know he will not mind—I would like to
acknowledge James Joseph David on his first visit to Parliament House. He is
the number one and only grandson of the Speaker!
2023 — DEBATE
462. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs:
I refer to the tendency of the WA
Labor government to use the Parliament as a rubber stamp, such as in the case
of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, which was rammed through 24 hours
after the initial briefing was provided to the opposition.
(1) Will the
minister guarantee the opposition will be provided with an appropriate amount
of time to review the amendments to the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 and that
debate will not be guillotined?
(2) Will any
proposed regulations be provided prior to the bill to restore the 1972 act
being debated in both houses of Parliament to ensure the full extent of the new
system can be understood and considered?
The SPEAKER : Before I give
the minister the call—I know he will not mind—I would like to
acknowledge James Joseph David on his first visit to Parliament House. He is
the number one and only grandson of the Speaker!
AnswerView source ↗
I am glad I am the first member of
government to reply to a question without notice in respect to the grandchild's
experience in Parliament! May it be as long an experience as you have had,
Madam Speaker.
(1)–(2) On the question asked by the Deputy Leader of the
Opposition, a briefing was given to the opposition yesterday. We are open to providing information as
needed. It is not being rammed through as an urgent bill . It is really up to the opposition how long it
wants to debate the bill when it comes back on. I am sure many of the member's
constituents who expressed support for the decision that was announced yesterday
would like the revival of the 1972
act, with the appropriate amendments, to go through as quickly as possible, but
the opposition can decide whether they want to listen to their voices or
not. We have been listening to their voices.
On
urgent bills, does the member think we are the only government to ever do an
urgent bill? I will provide some
statistics to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The former Liberal–National
government, of which the member for Central Wheatbelt was a cabinet
minister, declared urgent 44 bills from 2008 to 2016. It was 44 bills! Was not one of them something to do
with the Town of East Fremantle, if I remember rightly? We came back one year
and something about the Town of East Fremantle was considered urgent. It was
because it had no other legislation. The current Labor government has declared
urgent 40 bills from 2017 to now and, of those 40 bills that were declared
urgent, 10 were related to COVID. If we take them out of the equation, there
have been 30 urgent bills since 2017. The opposition did 44 between 2008 and
2016, so do not talk about parliamentary procedure when your hypocrisy has been
determined by the statistics.
government to reply to a question without notice in respect to the grandchild's
experience in Parliament! May it be as long an experience as you have had,
Madam Speaker.
(1)–(2) On the question asked by the Deputy Leader of the
Opposition, a briefing was given to the opposition yesterday. We are open to providing information as
needed. It is not being rammed through as an urgent bill . It is really up to the opposition how long it
wants to debate the bill when it comes back on. I am sure many of the member's
constituents who expressed support for the decision that was announced yesterday
would like the revival of the 1972
act, with the appropriate amendments, to go through as quickly as possible, but
the opposition can decide whether they want to listen to their voices or
not. We have been listening to their voices.
On
urgent bills, does the member think we are the only government to ever do an
urgent bill? I will provide some
statistics to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The former Liberal–National
government, of which the member for Central Wheatbelt was a cabinet
minister, declared urgent 44 bills from 2008 to 2016. It was 44 bills! Was not one of them something to do
with the Town of East Fremantle, if I remember rightly? We came back one year
and something about the Town of East Fremantle was considered urgent. It was
because it had no other legislation. The current Labor government has declared
urgent 40 bills from 2017 to now and, of those 40 bills that were declared
urgent, 10 were related to COVID. If we take them out of the equation, there
have been 30 urgent bills since 2017. The opposition did 44 between 2008 and
2016, so do not talk about parliamentary procedure when your hypocrisy has been
determined by the statistics.
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