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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 Hansard (14 May) . . Page.. 1205 ..

Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. The standing orders are clear in relation to this. Standing order 118 says that it shall be a concise answer. We have thrown that one out the window. It should be confined to the subject matter of the question. The subject matter of the question was: When did the Commonwealth indicate its commitment to cleaning up Kingston and when was this offer made? What was the offer? Table it.

Mr De Domenico: Mr Speaker, on the point of order: If Mr Berry wants to quote points of order, he should also be referred to standing order 39, which says that no member may make any noise or disturbance to interrupt a member who is speaking, and also standing order 61, which says that a member shall not interrupt another member. If Mrs Carnell were given an opportunity to answer the question that was asked of her, she might be able to provide Ms McRae with the answer - an answer that Ms McRae might not like, by the way, but one that the Chief Minister is going to give anyway.

MR SPEAKER: I call the Chief Minister to conclude the answer.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I will conclude by making a statement again. Of course the costs of decontamination on the site at Kingston ultimately will be borne by the developers of the site. There is no doubt about that. If it costs more to prepare the land, then - by the very nature of that - it must be passed on to the private sector. It just stands to reason. I understand that that was one of the quotes that Mr Berry - I am sorry, Ms McRae - I forgot who actually asked the question - - -

Mr Kaine: It takes three of them to ask the question these days.

MRS CARNELL: The reality is that it costs more to get the site in a state such that you can develop the site as a result of the competition that I hope that we will actually be able to get on to, so that we can actually create some jobs, so that we can actually get this economy going.

Ms Follett: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I think you have had the question read out to you several times. It seems to me that all of the response Mrs Carnell is making is totally irrelevant to the question asked. I ask you to abide by your own rulings and sit her down unless she is answering the question as asked.

Mr Humphries: Mr Speaker, I rise on the same point or order. In her preamble to this question, Ms McRae touched on the very things the Chief Minister is now referring to in her answer. She talked about the cost of remediation; she talked about who would be paying for the remediation; she talked about how large the cost would be. She touched on all those things in asking the question and now says that Mrs Carnell cannot touch on those things when she gives the answer. It is those opposite who are being inconsistent.

MS McRAE: I would like to ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. There is definitely a point of order, and I wish you would reconsider all of this, perhaps in a quiet moment, Mr Speaker. The supplementary question goes right back to ask: What offer has been made by the Commonwealth? Mrs Carnell's press release said:

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