John Gilroy (Labour)

In recent months I have noticed an increasing tendency among Deputies, particularly, Government backbench Deputies, to voice critical comment about this House, the tenure of which is that it should be abolished. It is undesirable that we would enter into a controversy on the matter with the Lower House but a response is required. I am happy to engage in any debate on the future of the House with anyone but the difficulty that arises is that the commentators who raise these concerns put forward no argument, which leads me, rightly or wrongly, to conclude that these calls are based on the issue of abolishing the House to save some money. There may be many reasons to abolish the House but to save money is not one of them. I could, perhaps, suggest to our colleagues in the Lower House that another way of making comparative savings would be to look at the salaries of politicians in that House. I am puzzled at the fact that there are 23 Deputies-----