Page 1713 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 May 1990
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MR MOORE: No.
MR SPEAKER: The point of order was that you maligned the Chief Minister.
Mr Kaine: He told an outright lie, and I would like him to withdraw it.
MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, as a personal imputation, I was called a liar. I would ask the Chief Minister to withdraw that.
Mr Kaine: You did. I refuse to withdraw it because he uttered an absolute lie not more than 30 seconds ago. If he wants to be a liar, he can be accused of being a liar. I will not withdraw it, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Chief Minister. You may request to make a personal explanation at the end of the speech. Your time is up, Mr Moore.
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (8.22): Mr Speaker, members of the Assembly have whipped themselves into a great frenzy of morality on this issue.
Ms Follett: On your side?
MR HUMPHRIES: That is because we have more sense and realise that these issues seem bigger than they actually are, Ms Follett.
Mr Speaker, there has been a great explosion of morality and righteousness in the Assembly in the last few hours. It is not inappropriate that we should be looking very hard and very cautiously at the underpinning of that outbreak of righteousness - that frenzy of morality, as I put it. We really need to be calming ourselves and asking ourselves in a very dispassionate fashion just what it is that Mr Duby is alleged to have done which constitutes grounds for his resigning from the ministry.
Ms Follett: I would have said "proved".
MR HUMPHRIES: I will come straight to the point that Ms Follett raises. Ms Follett seems to be repeating a point that was made earlier by Mr Wood, who has now left the chamber, and repeated by Mr Moore. The point seems to be that, if a person breaks the law, that person cannot retain the position of Minister in a government. That seems to be the principle being stated by the Opposition. It is simply not a principle that is borne out by any precedent. It is certainly true that where members of ministries elsewhere have been accused of breaking, or have actually broken, particular laws those members have been asked to resign, or have voluntarily resigned, their positions, and that is entirely appropriate. But it depends on which law we are talking about. Not all laws, in this sense, are in the same category.
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