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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2383 ..

MS McRAE: I seek leave to speak to this issue.

Leave granted.

MS McRAE: I think Mrs Carnell spent such a long time telling us all that what we think is not what we really think that she lost track of what we do think and what we do not think, what she thinks and what she does not think, what she thinks she ought to think and what she thinks we ought to think, and what we think we all think. This is absolutely outrageous. This morning I discerned a certain amount of upset from my fellow Assembly members, the Greens, because I attacked them for the stunt that they pulled this morning. What is happening this evening proves exactly the point that we were making this morning. The reason why I lost it this morning and why I thought it was outrageous, a point that is now proven, and a stunt, which is now being clearly proven also, was that they are trying to have it both ways. They are trying to pretend that the regulation of shopping hours has nothing to do with all the other measures that are in place. They are trying to do exactly what Mr Moore said this morning. They are pre-empting the result of the inquiry. They are closing off one avenue of debate. They are saying, "This is where it will end. Shopping hours will be regulated. Meanwhile, go away and play in the sandpit and find some other things to do". That was why I found this morning's move so cynical and so outrageous. I was upset that the Greens were taken in by that sort of nonsense.

You cannot separate shopping hours from all the other issues. What if we find in three months' time that the thing to preserve small business is not to close the main shopping centres? What if we find that the whole process does need regulation? What are we going to do then - come in and change the Bill? If we are going to take this thing on as an inquiry, why do we not do it properly? Mr Moore has offered to do it in August, and I am willing to give my time to do that.

Mr Kaine: I am not. Forget it. I have enough inquiries.

MS McRAE: He can just forget it. We can get on with it.

Mr Kaine: And I have just got leave until 27 August.

MS McRAE: He voted for it this morning. Now listen to him. Now he says, "Forget it. If we are going to do it properly, forget it". This is just outrageous. Mrs Carnell is too busy trying to twist and turn. She gave us an interpretation of the events surrounding the mental health Bill which I am sure my colleague Mr Moore will elaborate on later. It was purely a reinterpretation of events so that she could slip out of a ridiculous situation where for some reason or another we have got hung up on the regulation of shopping hours - and it must be passed by tomorrow - as being the only thing that will save the day for small business. That is just arrant nonsense.

Now we have people linked in to a half-hearted inquiry. They put your right arm behind your back and say to you, "Go away and play with the rest of the issues". This is why I called it a stunt this morning. It is a double stunt, because the Liberals have placed you in that situation. They are now mocking you and mocking the rest of the Assembly by saying, "Play around at the edges. We will continue to make decisions about the main game. If you happen to turn around in three months' time and say that

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