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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4346 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

They distance themselves from her. This is a candidate who ran on the John Howard team at the last election. Now she wants us to believe, "Gosh, I did not know that he was going to do all those awful things. Isn't he a terrible man?". Before the last election anybody with half an ounce of sense, certainly every Labor candidate, was saying, "John Howard is going to slash thousands of jobs in Canberra". I think the headline in the Canberra Times was 7,500. They said it was all nonsense but they knew it was true. Now they are not game to run the candidate in the seat.

MR SPEAKER: The member's time has expired. Mr Moore, are you packing up or are you planning to speak?

MR MOORE (4.46): I am planning to speak. That is exactly what I am doing. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am packing up at the same time, though, Mr Speaker. It is very interesting to hear how sensitive parties get when somebody goes Independent. I think it is terrific, Mr Speaker, that somebody who is well known in Canberra has decided to run in a by-election as an Independent.

Mr Whitecross: A Liberal Independent.

MR MOORE: Mr Whitecross interjects, "A Liberal Independent". I remember my colleague Paul Osborne being referred to in similar sorts of ways. Many a time over the last seven or eight years I have heard people refer to me as a Labor Independent or a Liberal Independent. It just depends on how they are thinking.

Ms Follett: Not by us.

MR MOORE: Ms Follett, in particular, guffaws at that; but it was a different story, of course, when she was in government. Mr Speaker, what this demonstrates is the major dissatisfaction people have with the Labor and Liberal parties. In this case, the major dissatisfaction is with the Liberal Party. I am absolutely delighted that there is an Independent who stands a chance. Granted, it is an outside chance. It would probably improve if the Liberals did not run a candidate, but it will be very interesting to see.

I agree with Mr Whitecross about the incredible dissatisfaction of people in Canberra with the Federal Liberal Government. That is why earlier today I was trying to get Mr Humphries to identify problems in terms of the Discrimination (Amendment) Bill, and problems with the Federal Liberal Government and what they are doing. They put out falsehoods at the last election about looking after all of us and all that sort of stuff. It is so clearly and patently untrue. Mr Speaker, the most frustrating part about the whole thing is that this is what drags politics down into the gutter. People pretend they are going to do something and then do not do it. We look at what people promise, but the question is what they deliver once they are in.

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