Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:38): I will speak on the Alert Digest and the report that Mr Gepp has tabled just to say that I think it was disappointing in the process of the legislation that we have dealt with, which has so impacted the rights and freedoms and liberties of Victorians, that the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee has not been able to properly establish that their rights and liberties have been impinged. I think it is a problem for the committee. It may be that the whole process of how it operates needs to change, and its structure, but it is disappointing I think for many Victorians that when they saw rights so fiercely challenged this committee did not appear to be able to protect them in a way that it could have. I also thank the staff of the committee, who do an enormous amount of work, but I just put on the record that the way that we have had to deal with these very serious pieces of legislation has been disappointing.