Professor, thank you for joining us and for this very comprehensive scan of the legislation.
I have two points. Since you were so rushed in your presentation because it was so comprehensive, I want to bring you back to the idea of this growing parliamentary bureaucracy. I've called it a parallel universe to the executive and Parliament, in some senses because of the loose accountability of those offices—albeit they have great importance in extending the reach of Parliament into monitoring the executive.
I'll go to the specific comment you made. I share your concern that the proliferation can be very confusing, expensive, and complex, with multiple investigations into overlapping issues. But you made the point that you do not approve of these officers of Parliament having order-making power. I assume that's based on the basic principles of ombudsmanship: that you are there for moral suasion, you are there as an extension of parliamentarians, and you are there to investigate independently and report publicly. But you're not there to—