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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 1 Hansard (21 February) . . Page.. 112 ..

Ms McRae: They are already on the public record.

MR HUMPHRIES: Members of trade unions?

Ms McRae: Yes.

MR HUMPHRIES: Are they really?

Mr Berry: Name and address.

Ms McRae: Yes.

MR HUMPHRIES: All of the members of the trade unions?

Ms McRae: Yes.

Mr Berry: On the public record. You can go down and get it yourself.

MR HUMPHRIES: So I can research who are members of the Australian Workers Union, can I?

Ms McRae: Yes.

MR HUMPHRIES: No, I do not think so. Mr Speaker, these people opposite have no sense of shame. They are prepared to have an arrangement that exposes people who might be donating to the Liberal Party but are not prepared to do the same thing as far as donors to the Labor Party are concerned. The hypocrisy is just breathtaking. The electoral laws of this Territory, although they are my responsibility at present, were not introduced by me; they were introduced by one R. Follett, who is sitting over there. The rules that are laid down in those laws are contained in the view of the Labor Party in enacting those laws. If she did not think that was a good idea at the time she should get up here and say, "I have made a mistake".

Ms Follett: We did not think you were going to cheat.

MR HUMPHRIES: If you want to change the law, by all means bring forward legislation. You are entitled to do that. I have no doubt that you will want to do that if you have that opportunity. I point out, Mr Speaker, that there are already a number of proposals in the pipeline to change electoral disclosure laws in accordance with the representations made to me by all the major parties in the ACT - the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, and, I think, the Greens as well - that our laws in the Territory should conform with disclosure and funding laws enacted at the Commonwealth level.

You people cannot have it both ways. You cannot ask me to have a special rule in the ACT if it is not the same as the laws you have now requested me to impose in respect of bringing our laws closer to those of the Commonwealth. What do you want? Make up your mind. Do you want laws that echo the Commonwealth's laws or do you want your own special variation? Just make up your mind. One or the other will do.

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