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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (26 August) . . Page.. 2435 ..

MR BERRY: What is that?

Mrs Carnell: That there is no relevance.

MR BERRY: About what?

Mrs Carnell: To this censure motion.

MR BERRY: You have selectively quoted out of context - - -

Mrs Carnell: But that is the thing I am censuring you for, not the rest.

MR SPEAKER: I am reading the censure motion. It says "in relation to false statements they" - that is Mr Berry and Ms McRae - "made on 26 June 1997 about a private company".

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, if you were to read Hansard, you would think that I had never said anything else on the matter, except what Mrs Carnell said. One is permitted to have the things in context, I am sure.

Mrs Carnell: Mr Speaker, I am not censuring Mr Berry for the other things that he has said; I am censuring Mr Berry for his false statements.

MR SPEAKER: Correct. I uphold the point of order. Mr Berry, address the censure motion.

MR BERRY: My statement in respect of tax rorts was not false. Mr Speaker, the question Labor continually asked in the last Assembly sitting was: Did the Chief Minister know?. And, no, she did not. We asked about the probity checks conducted on Fay Richwhite and other contractors and consultants. The Chief Minister was unable to answer. She should be embarrassed and squirming in her seat.

Mr Humphries: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I think I should press the point made by the Chief Minister. This matter is a motion of censure in respect of one particular comment Mr Berry made. It may well be true that Mr Berry made lots of other comments which may or may not be true. They are not the subject of this debate.

MR BERRY: No; you would not want them to be.

Mr Humphries: The subject of this debate is a comment which is clearly not true, and which I understand Mr Berry has now admitted is not true.

MR BERRY: No. It is true. The tax rorts statements are true.

Mrs Carnell: Mr Speaker, if Mr Berry is saying, as he said, that he is not any longer suggesting that Fay Richwhite was involved in anything fraudulent and is willing to withdraw those things - - -

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