Page 3114 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 17 November 1992
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MR BERRY: I am afraid that it is a reflection on the sneak that got them in. Here is a statement I made in response to a question about activity levels:
We expect, you know, activity levels to be about the same but we hope to do better.
That is a very clear statement.
Mrs Carnell: No, it is not.
MR BERRY: It is a very clear statement.
Mrs Carnell: It does not tell you what the activity rate - - -
MR BERRY: I said that we expect about the same as last year and we hope to do better. Nine times I told them that: We expect activity levels to be about the same. The chair of the Estimates Committee would know the answer because she probably had a look at the associated papers. You were told nine times. Liberals never like my answers, and I am quite proud of that. One of the things that I trust I will be able to do on each occasion when I am asked a question by a member of the Liberal Party is to expose them for what they are. What they have shown themselves to be, in relation to this Estimates Committee, is a bunch of shonks who are prepared to do anything - - -
Mr Kaine: Madam Speaker, surely you must pull him up. You do not have to wait for us to protest, surely.
MR BERRY: I withdraw that.
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Kaine. Thank you, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: A bunch of sneaks who are prepared - - -
Opposition members: Oh!
MR BERRY: No; that has never been ruled out.
Mr Humphries: Madam Speaker, on a point of order: It seems to me that Mr Berry is quite deliberately breaking standing orders. He has again and again used words which he knows are not parliamentary, which he knows he is going to have to withdraw, and which he knows you will, as you have tonight on several occasions, ask him to withdraw. If he uses another word which he knows to be unparliamentary, I ask that you name him.
MR BERRY: "Untrustworthy" is all right, then, is it?
Mr Kaine: No, it is not.
MR BERRY: I think it is. I think it is very appropriate.
Mr Humphries: Of you or us?
MR BERRY: Of you. Madam Speaker, I search my vocabulary for a word that would rest easy on the shoulders of the Liberals, but I do not have one. I am having great difficulty, and I apologise if I have offended the chair in any way with some of the language which I think is most appropriate. I think I have
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