Page 583 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 1990
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The other point is that Mr Wood asserts that somehow we have sprung this on Opposition members. Mr Wood may not be aware of this, but it is a fact that we attempted to discuss this with his manager of business last Thursday. But his manager of business was not available. He was out conducting Jim Snow's election campaign, which is far more important than what goes on here. When we went to discuss it with him, he was not available and neither was the Leader of the Opposition. On Friday we again attempted to discuss the matter with Labor's manager of business, and again neither he nor the Leader of the Opposition were available.
The matter was discussed in their absence on two days in a row with the only member of the Labor Party who was available, Mr Berry. He knows that the matter was put to him, in the absence of both his party leader and his party's business manager. If Labor people are not going to be in attendance, if they find that their commitments to the Eden-Monaro electorate are more important than their commitment to this Assembly, and if it is impossible to discuss with them the matter of the business of the Assembly, what do they expect us to do? Perhaps Mr Wood would care to answer that question, it is not a hypothetical one.
Mr Wood: I will answer it then. Thank you for the invitation.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Wood!
Mr Wood: Are you saying that we have to be here all the time?
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Wood. Please desist, or I am warning you, you will be named.
MR KAINE: The point is, Mr Speaker, that the Government is attempting to get on with the business of government. We attempted to discuss this matter with the Leader of the Opposition or her manager of business. We do not mind who we discuss these matters with; we are pretty open-minded about these things. If on two consecutive days it is not possible to discuss it with them, we have to go ahead and make a decision. I can only assume that in their absence, Mr Berry made the information known to the rest of the members of the Labor Party, since he had to be acting as their agent, that this was what the Government was proposing. So I do not believe that the Government has acted in any way irresponsibly. I believe that we attempted to do the right thing by the Opposition, but in the event it simply was not possible for us to do that. In line with the previous Government's policy that from time to time it was necessary for the Assembly to adjourn early, this Government is following the same procedure. I do not believe there is any cause for complaint from the Opposition on that point.
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