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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 1 Hansard (22 February) . . Page.. 200 ..

Mr Berry: To assist, Mr Speaker, I will list the services available at Kippax and Mrs Carnell can say whether or not they are still there.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Berry, I am speaking.

MR SPEAKER: There is a point of order by Mr Humphries.

MR HUMPHRIES: No. I am speaking to this motion. We have been sitting now for three days. The first item of Executive business on the agenda is the Law Reform (Abolitions and Repeals) Bill, which was there on Tuesday morning. We have not yet reached it. With great respect, all of Tuesday was taken up by an abortive motion of censure of the Government. All of Wednesday was taken up with matters, which flowed over from the morning, concerning the industrial dispute. We had other matters on this morning. Can I say, very simply, that, if Mr Berry wants to get Mrs Carnell to clarify what she said today, then allow her to rise in this place and talk about these things. We do not need a speech from Mr Berry, a speech from Mrs Carnell and a debate on the floor of the house. It can be sorted out simply, without wasting more of the time of the Assembly.

MS FOLLETT (Leader of the Opposition) (3.32): Very briefly, Mr Speaker, in response to Mr Humphries: I think Mr Humphries's own party whip will confirm that I offered to go on with business before lunch today, in particular the Law Reform (Abolitions and Repeals) Bill and the Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill. I was told that they would rather go to lunch. Do not tell me that I was not willing to go on with the business. I was perfectly prepared to go on with it. The fact of the matter is that this Government has no business. They have been trying to drag out those two little Bills for a whole week. So far the Opposition has managed to do that for them. They ought to be very grateful that we have not left the running of the Assembly to the Government this week. The Opposition has done it for you. I would sit in your place and keep quiet about it because by anything that you say about it you will embarrass yourselves further.

MR MOORE (3.33): Mr Speaker, it seems to me that the suggestion here is that at question time Mrs Carnell said something to the effect that the Kippax Health Centre has only private doctors. That can be interpreted in one of two ways: It has only private doctors, meaning that it has only private doctors and does not have public doctors.

Mr Whitecross: Are you speaking to the suspension, Michael?

MR MOORE: Of course I am speaking to the suspension. Or it can mean that the Kippax Health Centre has only private doctors and nothing else. That is open to interpretation. To have a motion that calls for an interpretation at this point seems rather silly to me. If Mrs Carnell is willing to give an explanation of what she meant, that is fine. I do not recall her exact words at the time or exactly how she put it. I would have to read Hansard. If Mrs Carnell is prepared to give the Assembly a very brief explanation as to what she means and what is at Kippax Health Centre, as a rough overview, then I would certainly be happy for that to proceed.

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