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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 8 Hansard (26 October) . . Page.. 2065 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I think that enough is enough. If the Opposition believes that there has been impropriety of some kind by any member of the Legislative Assembly they should tell the Assembly and the community what that impropriety is and detail the allegations. To date we have had mere innuendo and slur, claims which the Opposition in some cases has had so little confidence in that they withdrew them a matter of minutes later. The tactic that this Opposition has pursued has left a great many questions unanswered. It is my view, Mr Speaker, that the Opposition ought to have the opportunity to put these allegations on the table, to indicate what the view about them should be, and then to allow the Assembly as a whole to debate those allegations. Mr Speaker, as Mr De Domenico indicated in the last couple of days, these matters have been referred to the Auditor-General for his comments. It is clear that that approach does not satisfy the Opposition. In the circumstances it would be best if the Opposition were invited to put up or shut up.

MR BERRY (10.42): It would have been a great pity if Mr Humphries had taken this up with the Labor Party before he moved his motion in this chamber! It has all of the trappings of a nice old stunt. What he has tried to do is to restrict the debate to just one person on the Opposition benches, and Mr Speaker - - -

Mr Wood: And restrict the rest of the house.

MR BERRY: And restrict the rest of the house. Mr Speaker, we are opposed to that. I am in the process of circulating a proposed amendment to the sleazy motion moved by Mr Humphries, to ensure that any member of this chamber can speak on the issue in order that we can have a proper debate and ask all the questions about the shonky deals which have been rumoured in this place. This debate, though a welcome one, has been pulled as a little smart alec stunt by the Government to protect its failures in relation - - -

Mr Wood: It is a boomerang.

MR BERRY: It is a stunt to protect the Government's failures in relation to this auction where the Government lost $600,000 of taxpayers' revenue - - -

MR SPEAKER: Do not debate the issue, Mr Berry. Be careful. We are discussing the suspension of standing orders.

MR BERRY: As my colleague Mr Wood has just appropriately interjected, it is a boomerang - a beauty. Mr Speaker, I move the following amendment:

After "her nominee", insert "or any other member".

The insertion of the words "or any other member" after the words "her nominee" in the motion which was moved by Mr Humphries will allow anybody who wants to have a bit of a say on this matter to do so.

Mr Humphries: Fair enough. It sounds good to me.

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