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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3707 ..

Mr Humphries: Start with waiting lists, Wayne.

Mr De Domenico: Yes, talk about waiting lists.

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, you have ruled in my favour in respect of the standing orders so far as interjections are concerned. I would again remind you of the consequences of standing order 202(e).

MR SPEAKER: Thank you. Order!

Mr De Domenico: Langmore must be resigning today.

MR BERRY: That is the second time you have told them.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The Chief Minister was heard in silence. I ask that the same courtesy be extended to other speakers. Proceed, Mr Berry.

MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell, from the outset, has shown contempt for this Assembly. When caught out, and she has been caught out many times, Mrs Carnell has offered her honeyed promises, but in effect they have come to naught. On 24 August last year the Assembly passed a resolution which rejected the Government's decision to remove salaried medical practitioner services from community health centres unless the health centres were managed as 100 per cent bulk-billing practices for general practitioner services. On that issue Mrs Carnell showed clear contempt for this Assembly. She should have been thrown out over that. By December it was clear that the Minister for Health had moved to get rid of all of the salaried medical practitioners. That was a slap in the face for this Assembly, and still the warning censure that followed did not seem to make her change her ways. It was a clear breach of the Assembly's wishes.

The treatment which this Assembly had been given led to Mr Osborne moving a motion of censure on 6 December. Mr Osborne was frustrated with the Chief Minister's move. Mr Osborne said at the last election that he would vote for the Chief Minister or for the party that got the most votes. No wonder he would be frustrated when he voted for somebody who just laughs at him. It would make you wonder about whether that promise is worth sticking to when the decisions of this Assembly, in which the Liberals opposite do not hold the majority, are completely ignored. The censure motion was successful, and so it ought to have been. During his speech on that motion Mr Osborne said:

I do not ask for a great deal, Mr Speaker. The first thing I ask for is honesty and truth and to be told everything, and then I will sit back and make my decision. Unfortunately, in relation to this issue I was not afforded that courtesy. I was not given all of the information.

Mr Speaker, Mr Osborne identified that Mrs Carnell is not always honest in her dealings with this Assembly. This is just one of the milestones along the way. There has been a building up of the mistakes and the contempt that Mrs Carnell has had for this Assembly.

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