You also mentioned the need for transparency. How can you have transparency if you don't have legislation that you can refer to? Let's not kid ourselves. When you say it's the minister, we all know it's the bureaucrats; it's not the minister. The minister doesn't know enough in these cases and relies on the advice of the bureaucracy. Essentially we're giving the department over to the bureaucrats without having the proper transparent political oversight and accountability.
On March 31st, 2008. See this statement in context.