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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (26 August) . . Page.. 2404 ..

Mr Corbell: What do you think that letter is? It is a proposal.

MR KAINE: You cannot manage a potential, Mr Corbell. He is accused of not managing a potential. What a lot of rubbish! The Opposition - the brilliant Mr Corbell and his mates - have tried to make an argument. They have put forward no evidence at all supporting their argument. Talk about rhetoric; well, I have heard plenty of that, but I have heard no specific evidence that the Minister has committed any offence in relation to the proceedings of this Assembly. What he has done is seek from the Federal Parliament clarification of what their intentions are.

The policy of the Federal Government, as they said in their election campaign of 1996, is to move towards 999-year leases. The question then arises of whether they are going to do what they did in terms of things like euthanasia? Are they going to amend their law to impose 999-year leases on the Territory or are they going to do it in some other way? The Minister's approach to the Federal Minister was designed to determine, "What is it that you intend to do?". You have the answer in a letter from the Federal Minister. The Federal Minister says, "We intend to make a change that will allow the Legislative Assembly to deal with this matter". It has gone no further than that. The Minister has not put a proposal to this place.

Mr Corbell: He undertook not to do that.

MR KAINE: The Minister has not put draft legislation on the table. The Minister has not even discussed it with Mr Corbell to see what his reaction to such a proposal would be. He has discussed it with nobody because there is no proposal on the table. He has given a commitment that there will be no change by this Government during the life of this parliament, and he has said that he will live with that. That does not preclude him trying to clear the water, to clear the murk to determine what Federal Parliament intends to do and what this Assembly would have to do in its next term if it were the desire of the then government to go ahead and make a change.

The argument, Mr Speaker, is baseless. There is no basis for a motion of lack of confidence. There is not even the basis for a motion of censure, because the Minister has not done anything. If he has, let us have the evidence on the table. Do not do a Mr Corbell; do not stand up and accuse the Minister of something that he has not done without producing any evidence. If that is the nature of debate in this place, it is pretty shallow, and we will even - - -

Mr Corbell: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. Several times throughout the debate I pointed to letters that I substantiated as evidence. I would ask that you direct the Minister not to mislead the Assembly by suggesting that I did not provide evidence. I did. If he is not prepared to accept it, that is another matter; but I did provide evidence.

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Proceed, Mr Kaine.

MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, to assert that something is so does not make it so, and that applies to Mr Corbell. He can assert it all he wants, but it does not make it so.

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