Page 1317 - Week 05 - Thursday, 25 June 1992
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MR LAMONT: I would not expect you to say anything else, Mr Kaine.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Lamont, if you are going to table that document I have to seek leave of the Assembly to permit you to do that. Is leave granted for Mr Lamont to table - - -
Mr Kaine: That is not the document we are after.
MR LAMONT: Madam Speaker, I am asking for my staff member - - -
Mr Kaine: That is a copy that you just got from Michael Moore.
MR LAMONT: No, not this one.
MADAM SPEAKER: Excuse me, members! Mr Lamont said that he would table the document that his staff member was searching for. If you want that tabled, Mr Lamont has to seek leave to do so and he is now seeking leave. Is leave granted? Mr Lamont, is that the document that you are seeking leave to table?
MR LAMONT: Yes, Madam Speaker, it is. The handwriting on that document is not mine. The words "water and sewerage" and "water usage" on the back are not in my handwriting. The word "licence" has been written in and that is not in my handwriting. I do apologise, Mr De Domenico; there are three pages. Madam Speaker, I seek leave to table this document.
Leave granted.
MR HUMPHRIES (4.16): Mr Moore has rightly placed this debate in the context in which it should be placed, and that is that it is a matter of extreme concern and extreme seriousness to this Assembly. A standard was formulated and tested by practice several times during the life of the First Assembly. Mr Berry, in particular, would know about that because, through the motions that he moved and to which he responded on occasions, he was part of the process of determining what standard was expected of members of this Assembly. For example, I well recall one occasion where I, as Minister for Health, misled the Assembly about the nature of communications that I had had with members of the trade union movement. Mr Berry, as I recall, rose to censure me and I, as I recall, promptly apologised to the Assembly for having done so. That was a high standard. I think we all accepted that high standard when it occurred and I hope that in this Assembly we accept that same high standard.
Madam Speaker, I simply do not believe that Mr Lamont has been entirely sincere about the way in which he has approached this matter and I believe that the motion that Mr De Domenico has moved is entirely warranted. Mr Lamont said, "I tabled the document I thought I was being asked to table". He said, "I tabled the document that I had been speaking from. I was asked to table the document I had been speaking from and I tabled the document I had been speaking from". That is not what the Hansard record says. I quote, Madam Speaker:
Mr De Domenico: Madam Speaker ... Mr Lamont was reading at length from a document that he had there. Could he please table that document, or can I seek leave to have him table that document that he was reading from?
MR LAMONT: Madam Speaker, I have absolutely no difficulty in tabling this document.
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