Page 1463 - Week 05 - Thursday, 13 May 1993
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takes that at its face value and I hope that, as a result, it will accept the spirit in which this motion is offered as a way of resolving a matter of great tension, both within our emergency services and in some elements of the community, about these changes. I hope that we will see a peaceful and cooperative resolution of these problems through the agency of this motion.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
PAPERS
MADAM SPEAKER: Members, I table, for your information, two papers - one on the use of Assembly records in court proceedings, and the second on a study trip which I undertook.
REMOVAL OF NOTICE
MR BERRY (Deputy Chief Minister) (4.58): Madam Speaker, I seek leave to move a motion concerning the removal from the notice paper of notice No. 7, private members business.
Leave granted.
MR BERRY: Thank you, Madam Speaker; thank you, members. I move:
That notice No. 7, private members business, relating to the Secretary of the Department of the Environment, Land and Planning, be removed from the Notice Paper and that a motion in relation to the allegations the subject of this motion not be placed on the Notice Paper for the remainder of this year.
Madam Speaker, the Government has not taken the decision to seek to remove this notice from the notice paper lightly. Mr Stevenson's action in placing this notice on the notice paper amounts to a fundamental abuse of both his position as an elected representative of the ACT and the very institution of the Assembly itself. The Government will not stand by and allow Mr Stevenson to circumvent the accepted and proper process defined by the law for dealing with allegations such as those he raises. Specifically, an allegation in relation to an offence against section 85ZE of the Crimes Act 1914 is a matter for the Australian Federal Police. A comprehensive legislative framework exists for dealing with sexual harassment matters, including the Public Service Act disciplinary procedures, the Sex Discrimination Act, and the Discrimination Act and possibly the Crimes Act 1900. I have consulted with members opposite, Madam Speaker, and there is wide support for the proposition which has been put by the Government.
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