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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 3986 ..

MS McRAE (continuing):

For this I apologise to the Assembly and say categorically that I will never let it happen again. We were approached by one of our committee members, saying that the residents had heard that the briefing was on, and could they have their say. That is where I broke a rule, and I will never break it again. It was not an open public inquiry, we did not have terms of reference, and we did not have the right to open up the question to the public. As such, I participated in something that gave people false hopes, and I am saying categorically that we will never do it again.

I have no objection to being briefed in public by officials about things we as a committee have a right to know. I resent intensely the idea that I have somehow let down the people of Canberra, the people of Chisholm, or anybody else concerned with planning. We have planning rules, we have planning laws, and we have procedures by which we pursue our work in the committee. Every single step they followed - - -

Ms Horodny: If we are happy with the way things are, why are we here?

MS McRAE: We also work by numbers, Ms Horodny. Much as you and I may hate it many a time, numbers are what rule. If three people on the committee did not want the inquiry to proceed, you should respect that. You have every right to put forward a minority view; you have every right to raise concerns. You have no right to subvert the committee process and demand that an inquiry be held and rights be given to individuals when there are no rules allowing it. We do not allow people to walk in off the street and talk to us. We are looking at a process to change the rules. I think we actually overthrew it; but, to be fair, we looked at it. The only way this Assembly will have any dignity and any place in this community is if we uphold the rules. If we start pointing fingers at each other and saying that we do not understand the rules, we are being unfair, we will not let any member of the community talk to us, some members of the committee would not let members of the public be heard, and some members of the public thought they might be able to come but then could not come because we would not hear them, that is just nonsense.

I am sorry, as I have said, that I participated in any way even to allow the people in, in the first place, and I will never do it again. We must abide by our standing orders, our own rules or directions, or we will inevitably end up in anarchy. We are not a rabble to respond to every problem in the community. We are legislators, and, unless we follow the rules, we will let down the people of Canberra. I have no problem with Mr Wood, or anybody else, raising the grievance these people feel. I have no problem with the fact that these people hate this church. I understand that and I care about that, but there are processes available to change that. The processes have been followed. There is no legitimate case to put against the poor pastor who wants to put up his church. When we did have the public briefing, we were able to find out the give and take that had been going on. Within the community there were facilities to solve that problem. The pastor has moved his parking space. The pastor has moved his church. The pastor has amended the building. They were the sorts of things we could legitimately find out, but to give false hope, and to entertain ridiculous notions that anybody walking in can suddenly participate in formal committee processes or Assembly processes, I reject out of hand.

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