Page 3995 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 22 October 1991
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Mr Jensen: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Might I draw your attention to standing order 118(b), which says that the question should not be debated. Mr Connolly is attempting to debate it. I would suggest that we get a short answer and get on with it.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Connolly, I would ask you to draw your answer to an end. We have had two questions in 15 minutes.
MR CONNOLLY: I do not think the Residents Rally is happy with the answer. As I said, in the first six months it was $39,000, but that was just a warm-up lap. In the second six months it was $79,406.
Mr Speaker, the Labor Party then took the view that one had to look very carefully at ministerial travel. It is true that four Ministers in the Labor Government carry the portfolio load that some 20 or more Ministers may carry in a large State. We have taken the view that we should always be careful about which meetings we attend and do not attend. A firm view, shared by all Ministers in this Government, is that the primary duty of a Minister when the house is sitting is to be in the house. It is to be in the house to answer questions from the Opposition when and if they can get around to asking a question that draws a bit of blood. We have not seen one of those yet, but we should always be on stand-by.
The meeting tomorrow is an important one, and if it were not an Assembly sitting day I would probably have wished to attend. There is also, however, in Melbourne on the next day a National Crime Authority meeting and on the day after a meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, which is one forum which, when in opposition, I always indicated it was appropriate for Ministers to attend. I am going down to Melbourne for one day - Friday, a non-sitting day. On Wednesday, a sitting day, I intend to be present in this chamber for question time. The meeting is on for only a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon from 2 o'clock; so, attending the meeting would mean that I would avoid question time, which I think is inappropriate because members should have the opportunity to ask questions.
The Australian Capital Territory is to be represented at that meeting by the Secretary to the Attorney-General's Department, Mr Hunt, and Commander Stoll of the Australian Federal Police. The purpose of the meeting, as members would well know, is to consider uniform national gun legislation. The ACT is the only jurisdiction that meets the criteria that the Commonwealth is requiring; that is, we are the only jurisdiction whose house is in order.
Mr Kaine: Yes, Alliance Government legislation.
MR CONNOLLY: That was legislation, Mr Kaine, which was drafted by the Labor Government, introduced as the first - - -
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