Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
NICHOLSON
FIVE JOINT select committees of the Senate will be reconvened during the legislative year to conclude deliberations on various matters.
Among them are the National Commission on Ganja, which has been meeting for more than two years and the committee considering the long-awaited flexible work arrangements.
On Thursday, new Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator A.J. Nicholson, passed a resolution to have the committees reconvened.
In 2001, Professor Barry Chevannes who headed the Commission on Ganja, recommended that the Dangerous Drugs Act be amended specifically to allow, without possibility of criminal sanction, the private use of ganja.
PROPOSALS
The Chevannes Commission also recommended that the use of ganja for religious purposes be recognised as lawful, and suggested, among other things, that ganja use by children should remain legally prohibited.
The range of proposals made by the Chevannes Commission was considered by Parliament in 2003, and although there appears to have been fairly broad support for some types of amendment to the law, the Dangerous Drugs Act has remained unchanged.
Parliament has been slow in making legislative changes for a variety of reasons, but perhaps the most important of these concerns the question of international laws.
Flexible work arrangements have been under consideration since July 2000 when a 12-member committee was appointed and charged with the task of addressing the complex issues involved in implementing flexi-time locally.
CONCERNS RAISED
Members of the committee were drawn from parliamentarians, the trade unions and employers' organisations, but the groups over the years have failed to arrive at a consensus on the matter.
The concerns raised included that flexi-work would affect family life, that it would cause people to lose their day of worship, and that flexi-work would make each day of the week a work day.
The other committees to reconvene are the Local Government Reform Committee, the committee considering how well the Access to Information Act 2002 was working and the Standing Orders Committee to consider making amendments to the Senate prayer.
