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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 1807 ..

MS McRAE (11.28): Mr Speaker, before I begin on the substantive arguments, may I just put on record that I do not believe that any member of the department of land and planning is corrupt; nor do I believe that any Minister for land and planning of this Assembly, before or current, is corrupt. May I also put on record that I profoundly dispute Mr Moore's constant correlations of ministerial discretion and corruption. Corruption has never been proved, although a lot of mud has been thrown. I get particularly agitated because - I know what his press release will say today - by implication, he is going to say, "Labor and Liberal gang up to maintain corruption". I want to put on record here and now that I do not believe a word of it, and it is time Mr Moore put up or shut up, in terms of any allegations of corruption by anyone. I have found many an officer personally hurt by the constancy of these allegations.

Mr Moore: That is what they used to say to John Hatton.

Mr Humphries: To whom?

Mr Moore: John Hatton, who was responsible for the Wood royal commission.

MS McRAE: I would welcome a royal commission if there were grounds for it. I would then listen carefully and perhaps be corrected in my views. But I am sick to death of these allegations being constantly floated and, by implication, my party and any other party in this Assembly being drawn to that low level. Mr Moore, you are a respected member of this community, whose words are listened to carefully. You have a responsibility to not corrupt - - -

Mr Moore: You did not listen carefully.

MS McRAE: Because you made me so angry, I did not listen for the first five minutes - - -

Mr Moore: You did not listen carefully. I was very careful to refer to avoiding systems that were conducive to corruption.

MS McRAE: You were, Mr Moore; but your idea of carefulness does not protect us from the level of allegation that is then imputed from what you say. You may put any colouring on it that you like; but there are many people who are smarting - and I am now one of them - from the constancy of your allegations that there is corruption in regard to land dealing in the ACT, and particularly since self-government. You may counter that whenever you like. You may interject now - - -

Mr Moore: I do not have to. I have never made an allegation of corruption.

MS McRAE: No; exactly. I wish you would, and then at least the matter would come to a head. I do not believe that ministerial discretion automatically leads to corruption or any possibility of corruption. We have an Assembly; we are able to look openly at whatever a Minister has done, and every record is there in front of us. So, Mr Moore, continue at your own will; but let it be known that, by the constancy of those imputations, you have incurred the displeasure and disrespect of a great number of people in the community.

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