Page 4305 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 20 November 1990
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It has been a great sign of the immaturity of those opposite and why they lost government that they failed to recognise and make any inquiry as to the nature of the travel and the fact that it was to sit with their Labor colleagues, in large measure, at ministerial meetings. This showed a great deal of naivety on Mr Connolly's part in calling that dedicated, obligated role junketeering. I think it showed up himself more than the Ministers. It was beneath him.
But Mr Moore does not get the same latitude from us. We expect him to take every possible conniving advantage of these facts, and he did that, Mr Speaker. He did that when he went on WIN, Channel 4, on 26 October 1990 and said:
... particularly Mr Collaery we know was aware of the legal opinion and he has himself done the very thing - - -
Mr Berry: On a point of order: I do not think it is the actions of Mr Moore that are under notice, Mr Speaker. The issue is the Estimates Committee report, and I recall your instructions to Mr Collaery to remain relevant.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you again for your observation. I believe Mr Collaery is coming to the point.
MR COLLAERY: I am responding to something that Mr Moore said tonight. On WIN 4 on 26 October he went on to say:
... Mr Collaery we know was aware of the legal opinion and he has himself done the very thing that he pointed out through his Law Office that I ought not do.
Tonight Mr Moore said - he is wriggling - "it was not Mr Collaery's fault".
Mr Moore: I am not wriggling at all.
MR COLLAERY: He is wriggling. Mr Speaker, I want to put on the record, in terms of the report of the Estimates Committee, the manner in which Mr Moore used the opportunities given to him. He used the opportunities to ask questions and suggested expenditure levels that the Chief Minister has entirely refuted in his address, showing the complete inability of Mr Moore to understand the appropriation process. In the Canberra Times, in that famous trilogy article of 26 October 1990, he is also reported as saying that according to him the error could have serious repercussions under section 14 of the self-government Act.
Mr Moore, the record should show, was given a legal opinion before he made those comments. He was provided with a legal opinion, as were all other members of the Estimates Committee. That legal opinion indicated in explicit terms to Mr Moore that the provisions of section 14 do not apply to MLAs in their capacity as Ministers. That was the most
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