Page 1907 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 May 1991
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Mr Speaker, on behalf of the Government, I need to inform you, with respect, that we cannot support your ruling on "furphy". We take the view that it has gone into the vernacular. It is less of an accusation now and more of a good-humoured reproof. When I say that in the vernacular it is a good-humoured reproof, the fact is that Mr Berry, when he uses it, gives it another tone. He certainly does. Mr Speaker, you can go over to the War Memorial and see that Furphy water-cart. What you do not see, of course, and Mr Berry misses it, is the donkey pulling it - and we have that here.
Mr Speaker, I sympathise with your noble attempts to contain Mr Berry on this floor; but I must advise you that you failed in this attempt because the language that Mr Berry has very shrewdly used is not what we should, in our view, on this side of the house, make unparliamentary. Nevertheless, Mr Speaker, there are ways of using words that in themselves are unparliamentary, and I believe that that is the manner in which you ruled against the use of the word. I am aware that under standing orders you cannot withdraw your standing order 57 ruling at this stage; but I would suggest, Mr Speaker, the point having been made to Mr Berry in this chamber, that that should suffice.
MR MOORE (12.05): Mr Speaker, just as there is tone in language, as Mr Collaery points out, so too is there a tone associated with grovelling, and that is what we have just seen from the Deputy Chief Minister to you. Quite clearly, Mr Speaker, the house is of the opinion that "furphy" is an acceptable term. That Mr Collaery puts the full blame on Mr Berry for its use in a different tone is absolute nonsense and certainly far from anything like the truth. It is itself a furphy.
It seems to me, Mr Speaker, that when Mr Collaery refers to the donkey pulling the cart he should look at himself and consider that perhaps it is an ass rather than a donkey, just as we look at it across this side of the house. He is the one, Mr Speaker, who time after time disrupts the workings of the house, as we saw this morning. On a number of occasions, Mr Speaker, you were making it quite clear that you had made a ruling; yet Mr Collaery persisted in jumping to his feet and trying to use his position to influence your decision. He acted in that way rather than the appropriate way adopted by Mr Berry of moving dissent. I must say that I am delighted to see that Mr Connolly's eloquent speech has been so influential in this chamber in ensuring that we can have at least some colour in the language and some colour in debate in this Assembly.
MR KAINE (Chief Minister) (12.07): Mr Speaker, I believe that the tone of the debate adds nothing to this Assembly. I move:
That the question be now put.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
MR SPEAKER: The question now is: That my ruling be dissented from.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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