Page 4429 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 19 November 1991
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Mr Berry: No.
MR KAINE: He may deny it, but the 22nd was adopted by this Assembly because it suited Mr Berry. When he sought to change the date, he discussed it with our Whip and we discussed it - - -
Mr Connolly: Michael Moore moved it.
MR KAINE: It was to suit you, Mr Berry.
Mr Connolly: Mr Humphries said that it was Michael Moore.
MR KAINE: I am quite well aware of what Mr Moore's position was. I also know what Mr Berry's situation was. But when we discovered that you wanted to change it, Mr Berry, we had a party meeting and we discussed it. We decided as a party that the 29th, which happens to suit you, does not suit us. One of the reasons why it does not suit us is that one of the members of the Liberal Party cannot be here on that day.
You cannot expect the members of this Assembly to respond and satisfy your every whim. You seem to believe that all you have to do is come in here and say, "We will select a date" and that all of the members of the Assembly are somehow obliged to accept it. The answer is that we will not.
Mr Berry: You have been caught out again.
MR KAINE: You have been caught out. You have been caught out, because we told you that we would be prepared to change the date to the 25th. But no, that does not suit you either. I repeat: If you had not come in here in your churlish, mischievous, cynical way and deliberately set out to stir up a heated debate, you may have got some cooperation. But you never look for cooperation; you try to bulldoze your way through the system and expect everybody to fall in behind you. This time, Mr Berry, we will not.
The Liberals will not accept your proposition that we move to the 29th. It is inconvenient for the Liberal Party. If you bothered to listen to what you were told by our party Whip, you would know why. Our position is quite clear. If you are prepared to move the additional private members' day to the 25th, we will agree with you. We will not agree, and before you came onto the floor of this house you were aware that we would not agree, to the 29th. End of argument.
MR STEFANIAK (8.10): As indicated all along to Mr Berry, the 22nd certainly was accepted by the Liberal Party. We made arrangements accordingly, as you did yourself, Mr Speaker. You arranged to go to a very important meeting on 29 November on the understanding that the 22nd was to be the day for private members' business. Understandably, Mr
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