Page 1296 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 16 April 1991
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Ms Follett: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. Mr Collaery interjects that I have unclean hands. I would ask him to withdraw that remark.
Mr Collaery: Mr Speaker, I would like to speak to this alleged point of order. I referred to the Labor Party as having unclean hands on this issue. That is well within the ambit of debate in this Assembly. How absurd!
MR SPEAKER: I remind members that interjections are the cause of complaint in a lot of issues. I do not uphold your objection, Ms Follett. Please proceed, Mr Humphries.
MR HUMPHRIES: The fact is that, as the Deputy Chief Minister indicates, the Labor Party come to this debate having sinned the sin which they now accuse us of sinning. I do not think many people in this community really believe the ALP when they wring their hands and say that they are the defenders of the neighbourhood schools, because most people know full well who it was that closed schools only a few short years ago.
What is the excuse we have had given by those opposite? Why did they not reopen those schools in 1989? The answer is, "Nobody asked us. Nobody asked us to reopen any of the schools". Well, well, well! "We are supporters", they say, "of neighbourhood schools, but no-one actually got around to asking us to reopen a school". What a load of poppycock! What utter and complete poppycock! What trigger is necessary for the first Government under self-government of this Territory to begin the process of reviewing previously made Commonwealth Government decisions? What do they need to do? We have a new community, newly given self-government, new to the arrangements for self-government. What processes have to be gone through - - -
Mr Collaery: A Labor Party allegedly dedicated to the people.
MR HUMPHRIES: That is right, a Labor Party allegedly dedicated to the people of this Territory. What mechanisms do they need to begin the process of reviewing previous Commonwealth Government decisions, particularly ones which they claim they strongly disagreed with? What mechanisms are necessary? Obviously nothing at all is necessary, Mr Speaker. It would have been extremely easy for those people to have gone to the school committees and said, "Would you like your school reopened?". They did not do that, because, Mr Speaker, they are hypocrites - hypocrites par excellence. Mr Speaker, we have not had any - - -
Mrs Grassby: I take a point of order. I object to that. I object to being called a hypocrite. These people I am looking at would sell burial suits with two pair of trousers, and they call us hypocrites.
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