Page 2803 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 September 1994
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Mr De Domenico: On a point of order, Mr Acting Speaker: Mr Lamont was heard without interjection. I invite him to offer Mrs Carnell the same courtesy.
MR ACTING SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order.
MRS CARNELL: The issue is not whether or not we support the corporatisation of the Snowy Mountains scheme; certainly we do, and, yes, we support the national grid. What we believe is that it is the role and the obligation of the Federal Labor Government to compensate the people of the ACT for the loss that we are going to incur as a result of Ms Follett's lack of capacity to negotiate a reasonable deal on behalf of ACT residents.
MR KAINE (3.49): Mr Acting Speaker, Mr Lamont has just delivered a statement to this house which attempts to justify the absolute failure of this Government to establish any position whatsoever for the people of the Territory in terms of electricity supply to this Territory. He blamed everybody. He blamed the Commonwealth; they are at fault, they are the big bad wolves. He blamed Mr Pickering in New South Wales because he cannot guarantee to do something by a certain date. He blamed, by innuendo at least, the Premier of Victoria because somehow or other they did not spring to our defence. Nowhere at all did he mention the failure of the Chief Minister to negotiate a good deal for the Territory.
The reason that we did not get a good deal, of course, is that the Chief Minister has been content to merely sit in her office and write letters. Nowhere and at no time has the Chief Minister actually sat down with the Prime Minister of this country and said, "Listen, Paul, you have got it wrong and you are doing us a mischief". What does the Chief Minister think her obligation is - to sit in her office and write letters and be done like a dinner on an issue like this that is going to cost the people of the Territory millions of dollars?
Mr Lamont: What did you deliver, Trev?
MR KAINE: I will tell you what I did. I am glad that you raised the point, Mr Lamont. I had the honour, as Chief Minister, of attending the Premiers Conference where this matter of establishing an eastern grid was raised. There are two issues here, and you are confusing the two; you do not understand the difference between the two. One is the question of establishing an eastern grid for the reticulation of electrical energy. The other is - - -
Mr Lamont: The reform of the distribution process.
MR KAINE: Just be quiet, Mr Lamont. I listened to you. Now it is my turn.
MR ACTING SPEAKER: Order!
MR KAINE: Would you call him to order, Mr Acting Speaker?
MR ACTING SPEAKER: I have.
MR KAINE: I am getting a bit sick of having to talk over him all the time.
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