Page 1261 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 23 August 1989
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I turn to the motion moved by Mr Jensen. Subsequently, of course, an amendment was moved by Mr Humphries. I will just read from each one of them. I think this has been dealt with by the Chief Minister. The motion talks about an unwarranted personal attack on another member of the Assembly. I must say that you can be as judgmental as you like about whether the comments were warranted or not, but I did not feel that it was a personal attack on Mr Jensen. I just saw it as the thrust and parry between two politicians in a real, grown-up parliament, and I think it ought to have been taken that way. If Mr Jensen was so hurt by the processes, he had the protection of the Chair available to him if he chose to raise it with the Speaker, but he did not, and I just wonder about the political motives that might be behind all of this.
I turn to the second part of the motion. It talks about misleading the Assembly by accusing Mr Jensen of making an outrageous and mendacious allegation. I cannot see how the Assembly was misled by that. I cannot for the life of me see how the Assembly was misled. Then to go on and say at the end of it "for being unable to discharge his ministerial obligations" is outrageous in the extreme, and for this Assembly to adopt that motion as it stands would make us look like a bunch of rank amateurs. I think you have to sit down and read it. That motion is rubbish and I think members who are about to vote on the issue ought to consider that.
The last thing I would like to touch on is the issue of sincerity that was raised by Dr Kinloch. I must say, Dr Kinloch, that it grieves me to continually hear noises of sincerity coming from you. We have not had close contact over the last three or four months, but I know that they are well-meaning. However, this sort of sincerity does not emanate from the Residents Rally. I think, if you can convince your comrades in the Rally to use the same sort of sincerity when they deal with matters in this house and behave like professional politicians in the thrust and parry of debate, this will be a better place and all of the parties will be able to operate in the best interests of the people of the Australian Capital Territory.
I urge members to oppose this motion and to oppose the amendment. Finally I would like to say, Mr Speaker, that Mr Whalan has my full support. I would just like to echo that which was said by the Chief Minister: He is one of the most experienced, if not the most experienced, politician in this place and I think due regard should be given to that by all members of the Assembly. I repeat my urging that members oppose this unwarranted motion.
MR WOOD (4.23): Mr Speaker, I rise to add some greater balance to this debate. Let me begin by saying that in parliament, more than anywhere else in society, there is a need for accuracy. It is also the case that parliament is sometimes the place where you see the least accuracy of all, if not downright distortion on occasions. Certainly I
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