Page 5160 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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MR SPEAKER: Look, it is a moot point. I think I will leave it to Mr Berry to make an explanation on that one. I do not want to have a withdrawal, unless you force the issue.
Mr Berry: I think we ought to force the issue.
Mr Connolly: So, it is acceptable to say that a member on the other side of the house is making a statement knowing it to be untrue?
Mr Kaine: Yes. Mr Berry does it all the time. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. What is good for "Big Ears" is good for "Little Ears".
MR SPEAKER: Order! Order, Chief Minister!
Mr Collaery: Mr Speaker, I am having a Federal Hansard delivered into the chamber wherein Dr Hewson was permitted by the Speaker on the hill to say that Mr Keating had misled the Australian people. That statement was allowed last week and was clearly broadcast on all of the news items. I suggest, Mr Speaker, that we adopt on that basis a similar ruling. I will have that in the chamber shortly.
Mr Connolly: Well, Mr Berry was forced to withdraw that yesterday.
MR SPEAKER: Order! My understanding of the terminology of "misleading" is that, if the Assembly has been misled by a member, that is a serious charge. If somebody states that the public have been misled by a statement, I think that is a different issue, and that is what is being said at this time, I believe.
Mr Berry: He said that I misled.
Mr Connolly: In a speech to the Assembly.
Mr Berry: This is on the public record.
Mr Kaine: Mr Speaker, I do not know whether we are carrying on a debate here or what we are doing.
MR SPEAKER: No; I have ruled on that, Mr Berry. My interpretation is that it was not a personal attack on you as a member of the Assembly but a reference to statements that you have made to members of the public. Please proceed, Chief Minister.
MR KAINE: But you see, Mr Speaker, what we are seeing here is a typical example of the Berry approach: disrupt the debate; do not let the Government have a chance to say anything. You see, he has successfully used up nearly seven minutes of my time by these tactics. And he thinks that fair debate. It is typical, as I said before, of the trade union bully-boy approach. But I do not mind, because
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