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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2535 ..

Mr Berry: I can respond quickly to that; it might be of some assistance.

MR HUMPHRIES: I do not care if you respond to it. I have responded to it and I have said - - -

Mr Berry: You have made an imputation, so I think it is fair enough that I should respond. I will come to it in a minute.

MR HUMPHRIES: I have made no imputation, Mr Speaker. I have simply said that that is what I was saying in my comments.

MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition): Mr Speaker, I will make a quick statement pursuant to standing order 46. Mr Humphries gave me some gratuitous advice that I might influence these people. If I were in a position to influence in any way, Mr Speaker, and I were giving advice to the branch president of the Labor Party, I would tell that person not to take any action at all and just ignore it because it is just a schoolboy prank.

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education and Training and Minister for Housing and Family Services): Yesterday Ms Reilly made a statement after question time saying that she had talked about more than 3,000 people being on the waiting lists, to correct the statement that I was making about her statement about it being over 4,000. Whilst I am certainly happy to acknowledge hearing Ms Reilly correctly say on several occasions that there are over 3,000 people on the waiting lists - I am glad she is correct, at least, on that - I would refer her to her press releases of 24 June and 26 June this year where, in point five, she says on both occasions, "Numbers on ACT Housing lists have gone up currently over 4,000".

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General): Mr Speaker, Mr Berry has slunk out of the chamber, so I am not able to press the question that was being put to me during question time about influence over members of his own party. I maintain that a relationship between the leader and the president of the party is a fairly serious one which ought to be taken seriously by him. But obviously he is prepared to tolerate that kind of behaviour; so that is fair enough.

MR SPEAKER: I present, for the information of members, Auditor-General's Report No. 7 of 1997, "The Disability Program and Community Nursing".

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General) (3.41): Mr Speaker, I ask for leave to move a motion authorising the publication of the Auditor-General's report.

Leave granted.

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