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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (26 August) . . Page.. 2411 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

On any assessment of that it is very clear that this Minister came into this place, told us one thing and, as soon as he could get out of the place, did something else. He quite deliberately created the impression in this Assembly that we need not worry about this matter; that the Government was going to do nothing. His words make that very clear. If he climbs to his feet and tries to argue that he had a different position, Mr Speaker, I think members in this Assembly are entitled to feel that they are being deliberately misled.

Mr Speaker, the statement that "this Government will not seek, during the term of this Assembly, to change the current system of tenure", et cetera, was a deliberate attempt to create the impression amongst all of us that nothing would change; that we could go about our business and we would have nothing to worry about, and many of us did that until the question was raised later on. Now, Mr Smith has written back to Mr Humphries - - -

Ms McRae: Today.

MR BERRY: Yes, today, in what seems to be, dare I say it, a desperate attempt to head off what was going to happen in this Assembly. We have to take at face value what Mr Smith says in here, but what he does confirm is that there was a discussion, and elements of that discussion led to the coalition Government moving to support the introduction of 999-year leases in the ACT. So that, too, is an indictment of this Minister, because the Minister created the impression, "I will not do that". Mrs Carnell did it in her letter to Mr Smith, and Mr Smith - - -

Mr Humphries: But that was eight months ago.

MR BERRY: Oh, that was eight months ago, so it is okay. That is all right. A crime eight months ago is fine. The statute of limitations has run out. It is all over. Sorry; because you did not find out the same day, there is no case to answer.

Mr Humphries: You found out eight months ago.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MR BERRY: A funny sort of Attorney-General we have here. Something happened eight months ago, so you cannot pursue it. My, my! Can we expect to see some changes to some of the criminal legislation which changes the statute of limitations in respect of certain crimes, Mr Humphries? Eight months is not a statute of limitations that this party would support. Mr Speaker, we have here a Minister who clearly said one thing to this Assembly, and then went outside and did something else. He must go if the credibility of this Assembly is to be preserved.

MS REILLY (4.04): I want to add some more information to this discussion. Mr Moore talked about the wording of this motion and Mr Stefaniak talked about the Commonwealth Parliament. Mr Stefaniak fails to understand that there is a relationship between the Commonwealth Parliament and this ACT Assembly. You cannot look at them as two separate institutions, as though the work of the Federal Parliament, the more senior parliament, does not have an influence on what happens in the ACT Assembly.

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