Page 1077 - Week 04 - Thursday, 1 April 1993
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Probably all of us would have been guilty of that at some stage. We have all accused people outside this place of having done something wrong at various times. In fact, some of us have done it on a regular basis. I must say that, if that is the basis of the allegation that justifies censure, then I am afraid I cannot cast the first stone.
Madam Speaker, I think that they constitute the three essential grounds put forward for this motion of censure. I do not share the view of Mr Moore that this is a trivial matter. Mr Stevenson does raise a valid point about treatment of organisations like the Lone Fathers Association. I think it is worth while considering what has been said there. (Extension of time granted) I do think that there is a danger of our debasing the concept of a censure motion and we should be very careful about that. I do think that this is a matter worth considering, but not accepting. I do not believe that the censure has been made out.
I talked about seeing things in black and white. I must say that it disturbed me to hear the Minister interject during Mr Stevenson's comments when he was talking about the BEM. He said something to this effect: "The British Empire Medal, BEM, always a bit suspicious". I think that is a little unfair. All those people who received imperial honours might have received them under a former system which is not now in use in Australia, but it is not fair to attack them or to suggest that their awards are somewhat suspect.
Mr Connolly: Quite so, Mr Humphries.
MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed. I will not labour that point. Madam Speaker, to sum up, I think that Mr Connolly is certainly guilty of untempered language, but I do not believe that that constitutes a good basis on which to proceed to censure him.
MS SZUTY (3.57): Madam Speaker, I wish to speak very briefly to this censure motion and I would like to begin by way of a personal explanation. I attended the domestic violence forum as I was personally approached by telephone to attend and possibly to speak during the evening's proceedings. Following the approach by telephone I received a copy of a press release about the forum some time later. For Mr Stevenson's benefit, I did not receive a copy of the letter addressed to Mr Connolly to attend the forum. If I had, I may have considered not attending the forum because of the language and the tone of the language that Mr Connolly has referred to.
For members' information, this morning I received a fax from Mr Barry Williams indicating that he had read the uncorrected proof Hansard of the Assembly last week when the issue of domestic violence was raised, and, under standing order 71(a), I have referred this matter to the Speaker for investigation. Both Mr Moore and I received a copy of that facsimile.
As Mr Moore has already said, both he and I regard censure motions as very serious matters and, when they have been proposed in the past in this Assembly, have allowed the suspension of standing orders to allow them to be moved. As Mr Moore has said, censure motions indicate a want of confidence in a Minister and, if passed, suggest to the Chief Minister that the Minister ought to be removed. The activities of the Assembly this week in terms of the censure
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