Environment Protection Authority

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (15:16): My question is to the Premier. Given the Premier's commitment to axe government boards and committees unless they can justify their need, will the EPA board have to justify its need?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:16): Absolutely. I think this is a really powerful exercise, to invite every government board and committee to justify its existence. We have set out the sort of principles upon which that should be judged. There was an important piece of work that was done in the mid-eighties by Mr Uhrig, who set out some principles that assisted the commonwealth to go through and consider their steps to reconsider the rising 'quangos'—as they were called—that occurred in that era.

We are going through a similar exercise. I think it is a good discipline to ask, first: should this be a function that is supervised by an independent statutory authority, or does it need a board or committee? Secondly, could the role be changed in some other way that limited the scope of the operation of a board or committee or, indeed, if a board or committee is to exist, does it need to exist forever? Should it have a sunset clause on it? All of these are matters that we are going to challenge every statutory board and authority to justify. If they can't come up with a good explanation, then we will be presenting legislation, and I hope those opposite will support it through the parliament.