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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 3 Hansard (28 March) . . Page.. 842 ..

MR STEFANIAK: I do not want any more time. I had virtually finished. I wanted to put on record my wishes and those of the Government that the Raiders have a successful season, albeit in a competition that they would not necessarily like to play in. They are Canberra's team, and I think everyone in Canberra supports them, whatever they do. I wish them well and look forward to some excellent rugby league at Bruce Stadium this year.

MR OSBORNE (5.02): I would like to follow on from some words of my learned colleague Mr Moore. Finally, we get some sense out of the man. I would like to speak on one issue regarding the Raiders saga, and that is the involvement of Laurie Daley. He came in for a fair bit of criticism, I suppose, for being very forthright in his opinions. I have to say that my experience of Laurie in the three years that I was with the Raiders - and that friendship has been ongoing since then - is that Laurie is one of the most loyal players that we have ever had here in town. It is unfortunate that he has been criticised in the way that he has. I would like to remind people of the many occasions when he was approached by different clubs over the years. In 1991, when the Raiders were faced with disintegration, he was one of the first to re-sign for a lot less money. I would like to put on the record my support for and admiration of him. He is one of the most talented and, I would suggest, one of the most humble footballers going around. I hope that he has a big year, as I am sure the rest of them will. I stand by the commitment that I made to Kevin Neil. I am available for $200,000, if he needs me.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General) (5.03), in reply: I am very happy to respond, as Mr Berry has invited me, to the suggestion that we should change the procedure for giving Government responses.

Mr Berry: I think we should go back to the old one. That was what I meant.

MR HUMPHRIES: This is the old one; this is the way that we have always done it. Do not take my word for it; check with the Clerk. We always respond to reports from committees by moving that the paper be noted, which puts it on the notice paper, and then the Government's response comes - - -

Mr Berry: I yield.

MR HUMPHRIES: You yield; good. I should hope so, because it was discussed by the Administration and Procedure Committee, I am told, and you agreed to do it this way.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

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