ABORIGINAL HERITAGE — LEGISLATION
640. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Premier:
I
have a supplementary question. How does the government intend to undertake
timely consultation on, and oversee, cultural heritage issues in Western
Australia given the Premier's short-sighted decision to abolish the
Department of Aboriginal Affairs?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
This is without doubt the most
lightweight opposition in the history of this state, and probably in any state—the
six of you are absolutely hopeless!
Obviously,
when we came to office, we made some changes to the administration of the
state. It was widely supported in the Aboriginal community to put the
roles and functions of that department into the Department of the Premier and Cabinet—widely supported. The
consultation process on the legislation has been run by the staff who do this work
within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet over the course of this period
of time. I repeat: it is not easy to come up with legislation that has had the
widespread consultation that is necessary but also receives agreement from
everyone. It will not actually, in my view, be possible that everyone agrees,
but the legislation we will come up with will be a huge improvement on the
current legislation. It would be great if the opposition was constructive in this and not divisive. The former
Leader of the Liberal Party, Zak Kirkup, indicated to Ben Wyatt last term that he wanted to be constructive and helpful
when legislation came forward; he wanted to work cooperatively. All
those processes will go on to make sure the opposition is fully aware of what
is being provided when the legislation is
finalised, but this important issue is something on which we need cooperation
and bipartisanship rather than divisiveness.
The SPEAKER: That concludes
question time.