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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (20 November) . . Page.. 3909 ..

Mr Wood: When there are people wanting to get in?

Mr Humphries: No. There is Government business on this program which has been waiting and which is fairly urgent. I would ask members to at least get on with that, rather than do other things.

MR SPEAKER: I am advised by the Clerk that it is the practice normally not to grant leave for an extension on matters of public importance. Nobody else rose to debate the matter. As you all know, we have only one hour, and if nobody rises before that hour is up the discussion is concluded.

Ms Follett: Mr Speaker, on the point of order: I do not like to labour the point and to incur your wrath once again, but I must again seek your guidance. Is there a standing order, or another rule of this chamber, not a practice, that would prevent a member from seeking leave for an extension to conclude her remarks?

MR SPEAKER: No, there is not.

Ms Follett: Mr Speaker, I accept that the Government has a great deal of business to do; but, if the speaker has only a couple more minutes' worth of comments which she wishes to make, I think it would be only courteous to allow her to conclude her remarks.

Mr Humphries: She can ask to do so. It is just not what we have done before.

MR SPEAKER: You can seek leave, Ms Tucker. We are wasting more time in this argument than - - -

MS TUCKER: I seek leave to finish my speech. It is only one minute, probably 30 seconds.

Leave granted.

MS TUCKER: Thank you. I just wanted to give an overview of the concerns that came out of that meeting, for the Minister's benefit. I did have a briefing, Mr Humphries, so I have done some work on this. They are concerned about the extra layer of administration, the fear of political decisions through Cabinet, the fear of economic imperatives determining grants, the lack of real information about how the trial will be evaluated, the poor process in developing this proposal up to this date, and fear that the Cabinet will take even longer than the Minister has to be part of this process. There were other concerns, but that is an overview.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The discussion is concluded.

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