Motion on Question Time Sessional Order
29/10/2014
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Very briefly, Dignity for Disability certainly supports this motion. I have been very privileged and pleased to participate in the discussions that have been going on with particularly the opposition and crossbenchers about how we can improve procedures, particularly in the council. This is one step towards ensuring that we do that. It is important that we keep in mind that, when we talk about making the running of the parliament more efficient, it is not only about ensuring that we get questions that we are asking answered, or that we have the opportunity to ask those questions for our own purposes.
The reason that we, particularly those of us on the crossbench, ask those very questions is because they are questions that members of the community are themselves asking and wanting answers to. It is just that they do not have the same privileges as we do in being able to ask those questions in this format. So, it is important to remember that, by being respectful to members of parliament, the government is in turn being respectful to members of the South Australian community. Dignity for Disability would like, of course, to see more crossbenchers and indeed all members given adequate chances to ask adequate questions but, more importantly, we would like to see those questions answered.
It was interesting to hear the Hon. Mr Tung Ngo commenting in his contribution on the issue and quoting statistics on this particular week’s question time because, as I think has already been pointed out, this week has been rather irregular. This is the first time that the government has behaved, I would boldly suggest, since parliament recommenced in May. I and Dignity for Disability, with many other members I am sure, hope that this will soon become the norm. With those brief words, I certainly commend the motion.
