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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (18 June) . . Page.. 1763 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

I can understand why crossbenchers are nervous about this. It would also make the Labor Party more effective. It would make the Greens more effective, too. If the Independents could be made more effective, it may help them as well.

MR SPEAKER: I do not want to have to deal with the Greens and the Independents claiming they were misrepresented, Mr Berry.

MR BERRY: I share your view and I withdraw any imputation to that effect. This is a great way to expose the misinformation that was given to the electorate by the crossbenchers and the Greens if they vote against this. They would be opposing moves designed to make the Government more accountable by making it easier for members to interrogate Ministers, to get a better result in question time. Traditionally, question time is about extracting information from Ministers. This would make it easier for individual Ministers.

I think I heard one of the Green members chuckling about this issue, but they ought to be less short-sighted when they are considering this issue. I am sorry if this is noisy for people, but the interjections are becoming a little loud, Mr Speaker, so one has to get a little bit closer to the microphone to make - - -

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MR BERRY: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am glad you noticed. This is a sensible motion. It deserves the support of the Assembly. I know that members will vote on this mostly to suit their own interests rather than to suit the general principle of proper interrogation of Ministers at question time. I urge members to support the motion.

MR MOORE (3.38): Mr Speaker, I rise recognising this for what it is - a motion of entertainment. I am sure that most of us have enjoyed Mr Berry's little discussion on it. It is actually the "let us give Andrew a chance" motion. You will notice that it reared its ugly head straight after the Labor Party conference and straight after a bit of polling. Suddenly, the manager of Opposition business, the Opposition Whip, said, "What can we do? We have to do something. Let us make sure that at question time Andrew can stand up and get all the questions. How am I going to argue it? They do it in the Federal Parliament". Of course they do it in the Federal Parliament. You have a centralisation of power in the Federal Parliament, the very antithesis of what happens here. This motion is a great joke, Mr Speaker. It is appropriate for us to thank Mr Berry for bringing on such an entertaining motion, providing us with the entertainment of the way he presented it. I particularly loved the bit where he moved closer to the microphone when people interjected on him. How dare they!

What does this motion do? Supposedly, this motion makes the Government more accountable. I have news for you guys. What actually makes a government more accountable is an opposition working effectively. That is what makes a government more accountable and more open.

Mr Osborne: Could you say that one more time?

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