Page 2611 - Week 09 - Thursday, 8 August 1991
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PERSONAL EXPLANATION
MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, I seek to make a personal explanation under standing order 46.
MR SPEAKER: Do you claim to have been misrepresented?
MR MOORE: I certainly do, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Please proceed.
MR MOORE: I think it is important for me to clarify a situation, Mr Speaker. There was an imputation by Mr Jensen and Mr Collaery in particular that somehow or other I knew that the house was going to be recalled - - -
Mr Jensen: Likely to be recalled.
MR MOORE: Or even likely to be recalled while I was away, to deal with the matter of rates. That certainly was the case under a Liberal-No Self Government Alliance-type government. I was certainly aware of that, and in fact I looked at the dates after getting the letter from you, Mr Speaker, and presumed that I would actually be in Mount Isa at that time. I had priced air fares for me to return from Mount Isa and I had checked to see whether that would be the case.
I had a discussion with the then Leader of the Opposition, Ms Follett, to ask her whether she thought, if she were in government, they would be recalling the house. Her reply at that time was that she thought it would not be necessary. As I understand it, circumstances changed. Had the only issue being discussed at that sitting of the Assembly been the rates, it was highly unlikely that I would have returned. In fact, of course, a whole series of other issues were put on the notice paper for that day.
With reference to a telephone call between Mr Berry and me, there were several telephone calls. In fact, I think Mr Berry accepted reverse charges calls from me, from Mataranka and Katherine, as I recall it, to discuss Assembly matters. It was certainly no wish of mine to break a holiday with my family, the first holiday I had had since entering politics. It was no wish of mine to put my wife in a situation where she had to drive from Katherine to Darwin by herself, with three children in the car - quite a difficult task in the middle of a holiday. I made the decision to return because I thought it was in the best interests of Canberra.
I am delighted, Mr Speaker, that you will have the opportunity to obtain a legal opinion on section 14 of the Act. I believe that I have acted in the best interests of the people of Canberra and that everything I have done was completely above board. I shall continue to act in what I consider to be the best interests of the people of Canberra.
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