Ian Gilfillan: Australian Democrats in the SA Parliament

	Extract from Hansard Legislative Council 6 July 2001

Ian Gilfillan Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council		Parliament Index 2001 Autumn Sitting Index Browse by Subject Search all Democrats material About the SA Parliament Hansard on line
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The Hon. IAN GILFILLAN: To be cooperative with this government one must be flexible, so it comes together pretty well. I indicate Democrat support for this bill, which is quite constructive in various ways. It is not, as it has sometimes been portrayed in the media, a sort of measure to lock Liddy in his seat while the victim impact statements are read: it shows some quite significant wider consideration for the way in which people who are giving evidence or impact statements can do so and, because of that, of course, as with any proper legislation, it applies and is drafted on a non- specific, non-subjective basis, and that is the emphasis that I would have put on the Democrats' support for the bill.

In no way would I accept a translation of our support for this bill as being related to an attempt to, so-call, `get Liddy'. My past experience has been that law that is related and targeted at one particular set of circumstances tends to be poor law and is regretted later in hindsight. Fortunately, I do not believe that this bill is in that category, and I feel that it is appropriate that it is dealt with in this parliament and at this time. My only hope is that, at this stage (at the latter end of the session), it is being given adequate attention by not only this place but by the Law Society and others who may want to contribute to the matter and put their points of view to us before we finally decide on the form of the bill.

Those are probably the only observations I need to make to qualify Democrat support for the second reading. I suppose that it is a bit mean-spirited to say, `Well, it's a shame that we don't have more time'-that the program has not been adjusted and engineered so that adequate time is allowed for the discussion and debate of such an important matter. However, I do believe that the amendments and the improvements in the system that are enabled through this legislation justify its getting appropriately speedy treatment in this parliament.