Madam Speaker, the members of the Constitutional Development Steering Committee, which is made up of all the major aboriginal peoples of the western territory as well as Members of the Legislative Assembly, have developed a work plan and schedule along with an accompanying budget that was submitted to the federal

government in December. It lays out the scenario of what is required to arrive at a drafting of a constitution for the western territory in the next couple of years. Recently, the federal government has been giving indications that they have received the proposal favourably and it is my hope that they will continue to see the good light and give us a positive response during the next couple of weeks. Thank you.