Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (15 May) . . Page.. 1465 ..

MR BERRY (11.28): Mr Speaker, I also move an amendment circulated in my name.

MR SPEAKER: Just a moment. We are dealing with Mrs Carnell's amendments.

MR BERRY: While I am on my feet, can I move my amendment?

MR SPEAKER: No.

MR BERRY: I will do it later. I draw members' attention to a foreshadowed amendment which has been circulated in my name. It merely changes the date upon which the Speaker is to be notified about the respective members of the committee. It needs no more contribution from me than that.

So far as Mrs Carnell's amendments are concerned, there is nothing unusual about committees having open reporting dates. In this case I see a little bit of nervousness from Mrs Carnell about the issue dragging on for too long and too much being exposed. If the committee cannot resolve the matter by 31 August - I have no particular objection to it being resolved by 31 August - then we would come back to this Assembly in the normal course of events and tell the Assembly that we cannot report by 31 August. That is normal practice. I do not have any difficulty with that particular amendment, although it seems unnecessary. I would hope to have the inquiry out of the way by then anyway. I do not care, really. The amendment which seeks to delete paragraph (2) is a more serious issue. On the one hand, Mrs Carnell says, "We want you to finish the inquiry quickly". This tends to argue against her amendment which seeks to remove reference to further contracts. I would ask members to pay particular attention to this issue. This goes to what can be covered up by commercial-in-confidence clauses. Mrs Carnell obviously has in mind the need to sign contracts which include commercial-in-confidence clauses, which will then be argued as a reason for not giving information to the committee. We saw how Mrs Carnell operated in relation to the last signing of the agreement or contract when on the 6th of this month - - -

Mrs Carnell: Mr VITAB, who would not give the contract to the Assembly ever.

MR BERRY: You are still stinging about that, are you not? On the 6th of this month, the hospital advertised to the people of Garran that they were consulting with the community. "We are negotiating", they said. Very clearly, no contracts had been signed at that point, but as soon as this motion appeared on the notice paper the matter was signed off. Mr Hird found out about it on the Tuesday, at the Administration and Procedure Committee meeting, and would have communicated that to the Government.

It was signed to ensure that the contract covered up access to commercial-in-confidence information. I am softening in my attitude to commercial-in-confidence and how much weight it has. It is being abused by this Government. (Quorum formed) Mrs Carnell's attempt to strike out the "no further contracts" clause is entirely farcical. It is clearly a move similar to that which she adopted when she signed off the contract knowing full well that the matter was about to be debated by the Assembly. In fact, she cheated this Assembly of the opportunity to discuss the issues that might be dealt with in a contract in relation to this important issue for the health system in the Australian Capital Territory.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .