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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (26 August) . . Page.. 2393 ..

MS McRAE: You may put any words you like into my mouth when it is your turn. I said, "This is what was said on the Drive program". Alex Sloan was there. Laugh as much as you like; this is the transcript that I am quoting from. Alex Sloan was listening. It reads as though Mr Humphries was speaking to Alex Sloan. Whether he was speaking to her on tape or directly, Mr Humphries can then proceed to explain. His public words were without correction, without a press release, without any counterwords, without anything else. His public words were:

... and I'm hopeful that the legislative steps at the federal level will be taken before the end of the year to allow us to create, to issue, or rather to automatically convert all the existing leases in the ACT that are of that kind into 999-year leases.

All pretence of concern for the Assembly is gone. There is no mention of who else is to be involved in this change. Even more tellingly, when the issue went on to be discussed with James Service, who was there talking to Alex Sloan, he made absolutely no mention of the need to go back to the Assembly; of the need to lobby anybody else; of the need for any other change. (Extension of time granted) Either Mr Humphries reads something differently to what I read or we have a very clear case before us. This is not the sort of behaviour we expect from a Minister in the ACT. He has markedly changed his stance from his first pronouncements in the Assembly in 1996. He avoided informing the Assembly of what his intentions and actions were and gave the clear impression of knowledge of a letter written by Mrs Carnell, rather than acknowledging any active role played by him. Mr Humphries told the Assembly that whatever policy we adopt should be determined by the Assembly. As soon as the Commonwealth seems to be giving the capacity to make this determination, and despite the clear view of the Assembly as expressed in response to the Stein report, the Minister has announced to the community what he plans to do, with absolutely no reference to the Assembly. He has demonstrated total contempt for the Assembly and for the people that the majority represent.

I urge members to examine and consider those facts before you today and not be distracted by a reconstruction of events. This issue goes to the heart of the nature of ministerial responsibility. A Minister does not have the right to not be full and frank with his Assembly colleagues. This Minister has deliberately defied the wishes of the majority of the Assembly. He has appealed directly to the new Federal Government for assistance and has gone public with a deal to please a particular section of the community, without any discussion, debate or even assessment of the impact of the changes he and his particular friends seek to make. I urge you to make sure that you do not set a new and unacceptable standard. I urge you to consider that as you make your decision today.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (3.00): If ever we have seen a political stunt by a desperate Labor opposition, on their third leader in 18 months, this is it. Unfortunately, they did it at the wrong time; they did it at a time when it did put back question time. Obviously, Mr Berry would have known that was the case. Mr Speaker, this is a very serious issue. To attempt a no-confidence motion against a Minister is not something that you just do off the cuff; it is something that potentially means a Minister, if it were passed, would have to step down from his portfolio. Can you imagine anything, apart from possibly a change of government, more serious, Mr Speaker?

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