Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4)

I want to talk in general terms about the process with regard to Statutes Amendment bills, although I know that Part 1 of this bill is about the Alcohol Advisory Council Act. I do not intend to take a call on each part. When we debated the second reading of this bill, it became very evident at that time that the Government was introducing Supplementary Order Papers at the eleventh hour that we did not have a chance to debate. We had read the bill, talked to our various spokespeople on the issue, and gone to the Government Administration Committee, but, subsequent to that, a number of Supplementary Order Papers were tabled. I made the point very strongly during the debate on 5 April that that was unsatisfactory, and that the process needed to be streamlined. I have had an assurance from the Minister that that will be the case in the future, and we are happy to support Supplementary Order Papers 342 and 349 as we go through the process on this bill.

However—and I bring it up now, because I think it is important—we were notified last week that there will be, once again, a Supplementary Order Paper comprising pages on the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 5), which is currently before the Government Administration Committee, and on which I spoke during the first reading debate. Given the point I made during the second reading debate on the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) about late Supplementary Order Papers being unsatisfactory when the support and the agreement of the whole House is necessary, and given the fact that the Government has flagged that there will be substantial changes to the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 5) that will add other significant requirements, one has to ask whether there needs to be a Statutes Amendment Bill (No 6) to cover those points. So I say to the Minister in the chair, Rick Barker, that the points I made when we debated the second reading of the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) are still relevant to the progress of the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 5), which is currently before the select committee.

As I said, National members will not be taking calls on all parts of this bill. We have thoroughly vetted them. I will make a couple of points as we go through the bill.

The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): In relation to Supplementary Order Paper 349 in the name of the Hon Rick Barker, I signal the Government’s objection to Part 1 standing part.

Part 1 objected to and struck out of the bill.

Part 1A agreed to.

Part 2 Conservation Act 1987