Page 3195 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 11 September 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS
MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, I seek leave to make a personal statement under standing order 46.
MR SPEAKER: Do you claim to have been misrepresented?
MR KAINE: Yes, I do. I refer to Mr Berry's earlier comments about approval for my travel to a national accounting convention and his assertion that, somehow or other, there was some hypocrisy associated with this and that it was somehow inappropriate for a member of this Assembly to attend a national accounting convention. I point out that I am the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, I am the shadow Treasurer, and in February I will again be Treasurer, and to attend a national accounting convention - - -
Mr Duby: It is a convention on government accounting.
MR KAINE: It is in fact a convention on government accounting. That is the very purpose for which this travel money is made available - for members of the Assembly to keep up with events that affect them in the performance of their duties here. For the Labor Party to try to equate that with a shonky trip to a Labor Party convention in Hobart reflects just how sensitive they are on the issue of travel to the Labor Party convention at public expense. I want there to be no doubt, and I am sure there is no doubt in the mind of any reasonable person here, that for a member to go to a national convention on accounting in government is an appropriate use of money and is in no way of a similar kind to the expenditure of public money by the Government.
MR COLLAERY: Mr Speaker, I claim to have been misrepresented and I seek to make a short statement pursuant to standing order 46.
MR SPEAKER: Please proceed.
MR COLLAERY: For about the third time in the last few days the Chief Minister has chosen to make very grandiose claims and allegations about various people in the chamber. The one today was that I spent a week on a junket in New Zealand, I think, at a rugby union match. I do not forgive her the last bit; but let me assure the house that I do not recall spending a week in New Zealand at any time. I do recall going to New Zealand - and I am having my diary checked - for three days, or perhaps four, where I had meetings - - -
Ms Follett: Plus the weekend.
MR COLLAERY: If I may continue: I recall travelling to New Zealand after leaving this chamber late on a Thursday evening, arriving in Christchurch at about 1.00 am and travelling at 8 o'clock the next morning to Auckland to
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .