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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2292 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

Mr Speaker, in presenting the reasons for this motion, I think Mr Osborne has put a strong enough case to say, "Yes, we do need an inquiry", and such an inquiry is appropriately conducted under the Inquiries Act. I hope that the Chief Minister will move very quickly to get it under way and be very careful to select an appropriate investigative style of lawyer or QC. Perhaps I should say SC because now there are senior counsel as well as queen's counsel. That person should be at, and be seen to be at, arm's length from the whole process. It should be somebody who has had no involvement whatsoever in the racing industry in the ACT, but somebody who does have experience and powers as an investigator in this style of illegal activity. Such people are around and I hope that we can find somebody appropriate very quickly.

MS TUCKER (10.05): Mr Speaker, the Greens also will be supporting this motion moved by Mr Osborne. It is not a decision we have taken lightly either. I have not been considering it for as long as Mr Osborne; but, after consideration, we felt that we really had no choice but to support it. If there is one thing that matters in government, it is that there is seen to be a desire and, in fact, practices which ensure that, if there is even some possibility of graft, corruption, malpractice or misconduct, whatever you want to call it, particularly in the racing and gaming industry, it is picked up very quickly and given close scrutiny.

I can understand how difficult this is. There is a lot of history, obviously, that members have spoken about today, and, as a newcomer, I can only imagine in a way how much impact that had for everybody here. I am mindful of that fact. I do not take lightly the fact that members here have taken on this inquiry, because it obviously is going to bring about some difficulties. I hope, as Mr Osborne said, that the result will be that there has been nothing that we should be concerned about and that everybody is very comfortable with how processes are with ACTTAB and the Racing Club and any other matter that comes up before this inquiry.

I would also like to support what Mr Moore said about the choice of the investigator, whether it is a QC or whoever. Everybody here must have faith that the person chosen will do the job in a way that is impartial. There must be no connections that people can use to discredit the findings of such an inquiry. People must not be able to doubt the validity of such an inquiry because of this person. I am sure that the choice will be made very carefully, because to do otherwise would not be in anybody's interest.

MR OSBORNE (10.07), in reply: I will be very brief. I thank all members for their support. I understand that a lot of thought has gone into this, as it has in our office; but we felt that we needed to take this step. I appreciate the concern of Mr Berry. I was not here in the last Assembly, but I am well aware that he was certainly dragged over the coals about this issue. However, as he said, he was exonerated. I hope that this is not to be used in any way to further embarrass Mr Berry.

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