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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 602 ..

Mr Moore: Indeed, very publicly.

MR HUMPHRIES: Publicly, I have said that. My position today, Mr Speaker - - -

Mr Osborne: It was not a core commitment, though.

MR HUMPHRIES: It might have been a core commitment, Mr Whitecross. The point is that I am prepared to - - -

Mr Osborne: Mr Speaker, I would ask Mr Humphries to withdraw that. He called me "Mr Whitecross".

MR HUMPHRIES: I will definitely withdraw that, Mr Speaker. I apologise for the insult.

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I do not come here as a person who is more committed to Yarramundi than to the National Museum. I come here because I believe that we should have the National Museum. I do not intend to be part of any process that might put that at risk, or slow it down, for that matter. I simply say to the Assembly - and I am not scaremongering when I say it - that this motion could, in fact, slow it down or even derail it at this point.

MR WHITECROSS (Leader of the Opposition) (5.25): Mr Speaker, can I say at the outset that Mr Osborne would have to lose a great deal more than 30 kilos to be as slim as I am.

Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Is it customary for members to sulk in the corner?

MR SPEAKER: I had not noticed. There would be so many, Mr Kaine.

MR WHITECROSS: Mr Speaker, I am forced to rise in this debate by the extraordinary and alarming arguments that have been put forward by the Liberals today. The Liberals are suggesting here in this place that the Federal Government's commitment to this museum - which Mrs Carnell has, up until now, been trumpeting as a major triumph for the ACT - is so wafer thin that they may not proceed with it in the budget if we wait until their budget before actually demolishing these buildings. Mr Speaker, that is a very concerning argument. It is a quite alarming admission by the Government that they lack so much confidence in their Federal colleagues that they do not even believe that they can trust the word of the Prime Minister that, when he says that he hopes to spend $100m on a museum on Acton Peninsula, he means it.

Mrs Carnell clearly believes it - and she would know, because she is used to putting these little weasel words in her own statements to get herself off the hook. Mr Speaker, she is concerned, when she reads the words "funding details will be announced in the 1997-98 budget context", that this might mean that there will be no funds. Mr Speaker, that is

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