Mr DEAN ( Windermere ) - I think that I could support the amendment at this stage because it simply goes through for further inquiry to be made and they may well come back and say they can accept the fact that a minister should not be the chair of a committee but that they should be part of a committee. I do not really see a problem with it remaining in there.

Having said that, I also want to congratulate our new member for Pembroke. I am looking forward to some great contributions from the member for Pembroke. With her background I am sure that we will get that and she may be able to give me some assistance with some of the policing issues that I handle.

Ms Forrest - She might even put you on the right track at times.

Mr DEAN - She will probably put me on the right track at times when I get up. I was the member for Pembroke's boss for a two-year period in executive support -

Mr Wilkinson - And she is not holding that against you?

Mr DEAN - and I am well and truly aware of the contributions that the member for Pembroke made to the police service and to the State.

It is ironic because the previous member for Pembroke and I did not see eye to eye and I think that was well known for whatever reasons and now the new member sits next to me. So things have changed a little bit.

Mr Parkinson - You should not have kept arresting him as you did.

Mr DEAN - Committee members, I think, should have an open mind when they are looking at issues. The chairperson, in my view, needs to be impartial and they should be seen to be impartial. I think it is fairly difficult for a minister as chair of a committee to be seen to be impartial. They may well be, but I think it would be difficult for them to be seen to be that way, so I have some difficulty with that. I think a chairperson has a greater opportunity to influence other members, although I am not saying that they actually do. I think a minister, as a member of a committee, would probably be in a better position to have some influence over the other members as well, so I do not see that as being so desirable. I would not die in a ditch over that, I could accept it but I have some difficulty in accepting the chairperson being a minister. I do not think that is the right way to go. I will be interested to see where this goes, if it is supported here tonight - and I have a feeling that perhaps it will be - to see what the report is when it comes back to us.