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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (20 November) . . Page.. 3901 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

rather surprised by that, because Mr Wood is familiar with the present processes, having administered them himself at one stage. He could easily have made inquiries to establish what the new process was about, to clear up some of the obvious concerns and doubts which have crept into his own mind about that; but he has not done so. Let me put this question to the Assembly: What exactly is it about the new arrangement which is wrong?

Mr Wood: Were you rolled?

MR HUMPHRIES: No; I have asked you the first question, Mr Wood. You answer the question first. The point is that Mr Wood has based this MPI on the premise that something is wrong, but he has not said what it is that is wrong.

Mr Wood: No consultation, Mr Humphries, for one. Do you want to respond to that?

MR HUMPHRIES: There is only one element, Mr Speaker, which I think Mr Wood has touched on which happens to be true.

Mr Wood: He will not touch it, you see. He talks over the top of it.

MR HUMPHRIES: I listened in silence.

MR SPEAKER: Interjections are out of order, anyway, Mr Wood. Ignore it, Mr Humphries.

Mr Wood: Mr Humphries wanted to ignore that interjection. The second point which I made - - -

MR SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Wood: The second point which I made was the intrusion of Cabinet.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Wood, you were heard in silence.

Mr Wood: No, I was not.

MR HUMPHRIES: Will someone go and get Mr Wood's tablets? He needs his tablets. Mr Speaker, I ask the question again: What exactly is it about the present proposal which they do not like? There is only one thing that they have drawn attention to which is of substance, and that is the fact that Cabinet is involved in approving applications for grants rather than a single Minister. What exactly is wrong with that? What exactly is wrong with having a whole-of-government view about the allocation of grants in this Territory? Mr Wood has not made out a case for what is wrong with that. I suppose you could say that it probably would take a bit longer, maybe another week or two, to get a submission to Cabinet than to get a submission to the Minister, which could involve a slight delay; but, given that grants are made on an annual basis generally, I would have thought that that is a very small and insignificant consideration in this whole affair. Okay, we have Cabinet being involved in these processes rather than Ministers. Well, big deal, frankly!

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