Log jam of bills alarms Webb

CHANGES to sitting dates for the Legislative Council would make it harder for members to properly scrutinise a logjam of important government legislation being rushed through parliament before the end of the year, an independent MLC says.

The government has announced it would replace a week of sittings in October with an extra week in November. That change, and delays caused by the early election, means members face a tranche of important bills over four sitting weeks in a five-week period, followed by Government Business Enterprise scrutiny hearings.

The Liberals want parliament to pass poker machines legislation, promised TAFE reforms, a new container deposit scheme, anti-protest legislation and laws to set up a new Stadiums Tasmania Trust.

But independent MLC for Nelson Meg Webb said the government was treating the Legislative Council as a “rubber stamp” rather than as a house of review.

“The independent members take their role seriously and carefully consider every piece of legislation,” she said.

“That becomes severely constrained by the government’s choice to cram four sitting weeks into a five-week period which will result in legislation being dropped on us with very little notice.”

Parliament has had its least productive year this century, with just 11 pieces of legislation being passed through both houses – and four of those were budget bills. Most years the figure is more than 50.

Leader of Government Business Michael Ferguson on Wednesday confirmed some of the draft bills weren’t finished.

“They’re going through a managed process and we look to expert draftspeople to ensure that they are quality-assured,” he said.