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Parliamentary Committees and how they deliver
References
Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) -- Our sympathy factor for the government responding to this motion with five days warning, with its massive resources, is pretty low. If you look at it from the Greens point of view, there are only three of us in this place and we have tiny resources available to support us in all our parliamentary work.
Mr Leane -- Don't undersell yourself.
Mr BARBER -- When I say 'tiny resources' I do not mean there is anything tiny about the capacity of our staff -- our staff rock -- but my point is that there are very few of them. The government provides support to the opposition -- the Liberal Party and The Nationals -- to the tune of $2.5 million every year out of the Department of Premier and Cabinet budget simply so they can be the opposition, while the Greens get nothing that any ordinary member would not get. So if the government is crying poor and saying, 'How can we respond to this motion in time?', it goes many times over for the Greens, does it not?
Mr Viney interjected.
Mr BARBER -- The difficulties for the government compared to those for us is the difference between the Death Star and the Ewoks. That being said, the Greens have some difficulty responding to motions that come up quickly, and it is our preference to have more time.
Mr Viney has given assurances and an undertaking that the government is not simply using this tactically and as a way of getting its own references to committees first, and we are happy to support a deferral on that basis. We may have some views about the individual references themselves, but we are not debating that at the moment. We are happy to take the government at its word, because that is something it has to sustain over many other such negotiations, divisions and motions that take place in this chamber. I am sure it will keep its side of the bargain, and then we will have some more time to consider these motions and debate them at a later date -- assuming Mr Viney's motion is successful.
