Page 2601 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 24 August 1993
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MADAM SPEAKER: Order! I am listening to determine the point of order.
Mr De Domenico: Thank you. What Mr Berry said is simply not true. It is a reflection on Mrs Carnell and her position as Leader of the Opposition, and I ask him to withdraw it.
Mrs Carnell: Unless you have some facts.
MR BERRY: Only an imputation.
Mr De Domenico: Hold on; the Speaker has not ruled yet, with respect.
MADAM SPEAKER: The standing order refers to all imputations of improper motives and personal reflections. I guess that it is in the area of a personal reflection. I think it is very borderline, Mr Berry, but I would ask that you withdraw it.
MR BERRY: It is withdrawn, Madam Speaker. Mrs Carnell, of course, is our only part-time politician. We see her working Saturday mornings up at the Red Hill pharmacy.
Mrs Carnell: What do you do on Saturday mornings?
MR BERRY: I get out and do my job for the community.
Mr Humphries: And the Labor Party. That is low.
Mr Moore: Come on, Wayne. She does 60 or 70 hours in here, and you know that. Nobody here does less than 60 or 70 hours a week.
MR BERRY: I have them all agitated and worrying about how many hours they work a week. I can proudly say, Madam Speaker, that my own portfolio provides a great range of information for the community. As I have said, the reports that we provide to the community in the ACT are unique in the country. No other government produces such a large amount of information for public release. There is no applause for that; just criticism. Members opposite, as I have said earlier, have access to this Government during the Estimates Committee. They have wide access through the committee process with a range of committees.
To assume that the only way to gather information is through the freedom of information legislation is really lacking imagination, but that is the Liberal Party. We are used to it. This is an accountable government and all Ministers are only too happy to answer questions during question time and to answer questions on notice; but, as has been said before, we are not going to pull out the whole bureaucracy to answer frivolous questions or questions which require a whole heap of resources to be poured into the issue. If you are dinkum about these sorts of things, why do you not ask some questions? You complained this morning that you could not get access to the Government for information; but, as I showed earlier in question time, you do not ask questions about the issues you complained about this morning. You have to be fair dinkum on this score. It is not good enough to say, "I am not getting my own way; therefore there is a public interest issue at large". The fact is that, if you do not get your own way, that does not justify the fees being waived in the public interest. You cannot argue, of course, that there is financial hardship. So, Madam Speaker, this is a farce.
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