Page 3141 - Week 15 - Thursday, 14 December 1989
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application of the gag, the refusal to allow people to speak, and the ruthless removal of the right to suspend standing orders. The motivation behind that is quite clear, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Whalan, please address the question.
MR WHALAN: Yes. The motivation behind this is quite clear, Mr Speaker, because I had written to Mr Jensen and Mrs Nolan seeking their support in relation to the Tuggeranong swimming centre. They clearly are embarrassed about this position, and they do not want to - - -
Mrs Nolan: I found out about it in the Valley View, then got the letter.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Whalan, please address the question that is before the house.
MR WHALAN: Mrs Nolan just said that she did not receive the letter. The fact is that she said, "I will discuss my letter with you after we have our meeting".
Mrs Nolan: I did not say that.
Mr Kaine: Mr Speaker, I must protest.
MR SPEAKER: Please resume your seat, Mr Whalan.
Mr Kaine: If the deputy leader of the Opposition cannot stick to the point and wants to digress on his pet projects, I think I have to insist that the debate stop. We have had enough of this, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Kaine. Please abide by the ruling given and please address the question before you, Mr Whalan.
MR WHALAN: Mr Speaker, Mr Collaery's motion about extending this date to 30 April is again a demonstration of the executive dictating to this Assembly, taking the power out of the hands of the Assembly and concentrating it in the executive of government, and this is the fundamental point which must be made in relation to this motion. It is the fundamental point which my colleague Mr Wood was making in relation to the whole committee system. What the executive is seeking to do is to make the committees not committees of the Assembly but - - -
Mr Kaine: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I think the debate has gone far enough. I think that the deputy leader of the Opposition - perhaps the Leader of the Opposition, ipso facto - has only one question to address, and that is: does he accept the committee's recommendations? That is what we are talking about here.
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