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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4678 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

If Mr Berry or someone else from the Labor Party is going to speak to this motion, they should clearly state the circumstances in which they accept this motion. Is it that they happen to believe that the circumstances presently warrant private members business running over on Wednesday afternoons, or do they believe, as a matter of course, that it should always run over on Wednesday afternoons? I would like to hear Mr Berry's response to that matter because I think that whatever the Assembly adopts on this occasion ought to be the case not just for the moment but for the indefinite future and ought not to be a matter that we chop and change about.

MR BERRY (11.46): Mr Speaker, Labor will be supporting this motion. I heard what Mr Humphries said and I picked up the threat - or was it a hint; I think it was a threat - that if ever Labor were in government we would wear this as well. Our view about the matter is that if the Government has a special pleading for extra time for its legislation and that can be negotiated with the non-Government members in this chamber in respect of a period of time on Wednesdays, then they will get their period of time. But let us not forget that Labor is not the only group in this chamber that would have to be consulted. There are other people that have to be considered in the context of this motion. If the Government wants to propose that on any Wednesday it wants to deal with its legislation rather than that which is proposed by other members, they will have to negotiate with them individually, I suspect. If you want the Labor Party to dump some of its legislation off the private members list, then you will have to negotiate with us. At the end of the day it is going to depend upon whether you can get nine votes in this place.

Our position in relation to this matter is pretty clear. There are a number of private members in this place who want the provision. We do not see this issue as being set in concrete.

Mr Humphries: I did not think so.

MR BERRY: No; if at some time in the future there is a strong argument from all of the people here, or a majority of the people here, that they want to change it, and we accept the argument, then, of course, we will change it. But that applies to all the standing orders.

Mr Humphries: If Labor has nine seats, you will never need that Wednesday afternoon?

MR BERRY: As I was reminded in the last debate - dare I reflect on it briefly - we did not get enough votes to get a majority in this place. We do not have our hands on both levers. Now and then we nearly get our hands on both of them. When we do get our hands on both levers we usually get one of them smacked.

Mr Speaker, this is something which we agree to on the basis of our expectations of private members business in this place. If the Government has a special pleading in respect of any particular Wednesday, or if at some time in the future it wants to move to strike it out, we are prepared to talk; but we would have to include everybody else as well.

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