Page 4582 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 20 November 1991
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month, on one occasion, in a 45-minute question time, we managed to deal with only seven questions. The reason for that is that three of the questions were addressed to Mr Berry, and he went through the same stonewalling tactics that he goes on with consistently and he used up well over half of the 45 minutes of question time in not answering three questions.
Mr Berry can sit there and smirk and laugh and think it is a huge joke; but he is not an accountable Minister and he is not responding to the electorate, which is entitled to know what he is doing in his portfolio. It is not good enough for him to come to this house and say, "I will not answer that question", because one of the ACT Government Service employees or officials on a body says, "Do not tell them". Yours is the ministerial responsibility and accountability; it does not belong to the official or the employee, and you cannot hide behind some official and say, "I will not answer that question". I think it is time that that message was carried home.
I notice that, despite the Chief Minister giving today a fairly comprehensive response to the recommendations of the Estimates Committee, she made no reference whatsoever to the criticism of the Ministers that was inherent in it and which surely warranted some comment from the Chief Minister, who has given her assurances on many occasions on openness, accountability, consultation and the like.
Given Mr Berry's intransigence on this matter - his attempt even to prevent this matter of public importance from being debated because I think he knew what was likely to come out of it - and given his absolute refusal to answer questions, I foreshadow that, at the end of this debate, I will move a motion of censure against Mr Berry. I will read it so that everybody knows what it is and can take it into account and debate it concurrently.
Discussion interrupted.
ADJOURNMENT
MR SPEAKER: Order! It being 4.30 pm, I propose the question:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr Berry: We might adjourn. I require the question to be put forthwith without debate.
Question resolved in the negative.
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