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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (18 June) . . Page.. 1734 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Suddenly, you find that Deane's are all through the Territory and the Government gets up here one day and says, "We do not need ACTION anymore; Deane's has taken over. We do not need ACTION; we can sell it off". As if this sort of thing is not going to occur in a very up-front way whereby the Government has to put it on the table if it wishes to take on that kind of change.

For goodness sake, what do you take us for? What do you take the public of the ACT for? I know what we can take you for, however. We can take you for ideologues who do not care about passengers, who do not care about the quality of service in this city, who do not care about making the cost of running our public bus system more effective from the point of view of taxpayers.

Mr Whitecross: You have not demonstrated that a single passenger is going to use this service.

MR HUMPHRIES: You have your mates in the Transport Workers Union. That is what it is all about, is it not?

Mr Whitecross: Not a single passenger.

Mr Berry: That is what this is about. Gary has no mates and he is envious of people who have.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, could we have a little bit of order in this debate?

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MR HUMPHRIES: It is your mates in the Transport Workers Union you are trying to look out for. That is it: "You guys have to stop this in the Assembly. We do not want it to happen, and you guys had better stop it". You have made this dismal and forlorn attempt to prevent there being a very sensible arrangement whereby a bus which is already passing passengers can stop and let those passengers into the bus to take the empty seats on that bus.

Mr Whitecross: You have told that fib again. There are no passengers there.

MR HUMPHRIES: If you think it is a fib, Mr Whitecross, then let us put it to the test. I tell you what: I will eat my papers if nobody gets on that bus. Will you eat yours if someone does? No.

Mr Whitecross: Get out of here. Where is your evidence that there are passengers waiting to catch the bus?

MR HUMPHRIES: The evidence, Mr Speaker, will be available next weekend, if and when this trial starts in the ACT. That is where the evidence will be, and you will be embarrassed when Mr Kaine comes back and says, "Since the trial started, five people - - -

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