Page 3687 - Week 12 - Thursday, 13 October 1994
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censuring her for that. I do not believe that that is the case either. She has some genuine concerns about how these numbers were counted, and she has gone through and shown me the evidence on which she found discrepancies.
There is a question as to whether this should have been done as a censure motion or not. That is something that she will have to make a judgment about in the future. But, Madam Speaker, I came in here today knowing that the censure motion was going to come on, ready to listen to the information and ready to try to reconcile the numbers. Having looked carefully at the numbers, having tried to work out why the numbers are different and having had perfectly reasonable and rational answers presented to me, I do not find that this Minister in any way misrepresented what was given to him. Nor do I find that he has recklessly just taken information without challenging it, without questioning it. Rather, the contrary; it has been done with great care.
Madam Speaker, I think it is particularly important that we take great care in this situation, because the other option for Mr Connolly, or any other Minister, is always to come in here and, when he gets a question from any member, such as, "What is the situation with beds at Woden Valley Hospital?", respond, "We are hoping to improve the number of beds. It is not too good at the moment. We would like to see it better. At the moment, it is not going that badly". We will get these generic answers where the Minister never says anything that can be checked and double-checked. I do not think any of us want that. We do want to be able to ask questions, and we do want to be able to ensure that Ministers present, as openly as they possibly can, the information that is available to them. For that reason, I feel very strongly that it is important to protect Mr Connolly from the impact of this motion. I believe that he has acted in good faith and attempted not to misrepresent all these figures.
That last point, Madam Speaker, is the point that I want to make strongest of all in this speech, because I want Ministers to be able to answer the questions. What still remains over this whole issue is this reconciliation. I am satisfied that those numbers can be reconciled. I believe that Mrs Carnell is probably not satisfied at this stage. Now that both Ms Szuty and I have indicated that we will be opposing this motion, I believe that the next step - - -
Mrs Carnell: I am not surprised.
MR MOORE: Mrs Carnell interjects and says, "I am not surprised about that". I would like to remind you, Mrs Carnell, that a much stronger motion than this was moved by you regarding the last Minister for Health, in his capacity as Minister for Sport. In fact, that motion was supported. I do not take these things lightly. I have investigated them very carefully, as, indeed, has Ms Szuty.
I would like to continue my point. The correct way now to continue this debate is through the Estimates Committee, when you review the annual report. Because I know that there are still questions in your mind about the numbers and reconciling those numbers, that is the appropriate place to continue this debate. Madam Speaker, it is important that we recognise that the Minister has not attempted to misrepresent or recklessly misrepresent but also, on the flip side, that the Opposition also have not
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