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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 2817 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Of more serious concern relating to the inquiry in which both Mr Berry and Mr Hird are involved is the question of whether some people, at least, have preconceived ideas, shall we say. This is an inquiry that was set up by the Assembly to examine the new private hospital. From the time that Mr Berry first floated the idea of this inquiry, the Government maintained that it was no more than a political stunt. Nobody in Canberra could ever imagine that Mr Berry would bring any objectivity to such an inquiry. However, out of respect for the Assembly, we might have expected Mr Berry at least to make an attempt at seeing both sides of the story, to put at least a bit of an effort into being unbiased. But Mr Berry cannot take off those ideological blinkers for one moment, not even to do what this Assembly believes is very important, and that is to take on committee work in an unbiased way.

Here we are in the middle of an Assembly committee inquiry and the chair of that inquiry is making it very clear that he has prejudged the matter and firmly made up his mind about what the inquiry will rule, Mr Speaker - not just in one radio report, but in a number and in the newspaper as well. Mr Speaker, I believe this is an insult to this Assembly and is a clear abuse of a position as chair of an Assembly inquiry.

Mr Berry: You are a joke.

MRS CARNELL: It is not a joke. It is something that is very important. I believe the crossbenchers believe this is important, too.

Mr Berry: You are a joke and a loser.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, the terms of reference of that inquiry specifically include the impact of the new hospital on both the public and the private hospitals in Canberra; yet Mr Berry, the chair of the inquiry, has already made up his mind before the inquiry even reports. I would urge all members of this Assembly to think carefully about this matter and the important principle it raises about the committee process generally. If members are allowed to use Assembly committees purely as vehicles for partisan political point-scoring, then the Government would argue that the committee system has been corrupted. I am sure nobody wants that.

Mr Speaker, last week the Greens and Mr Moore argued for the abolition of the position of Leader of the Opposition, reflecting their frustration at the way this Assembly operates. In that debate Ms McRae made this comment:

We have this fairytale notion that somehow the Opposition is here to create ideas, to do things for the good of the Territory. It is an absolute fairytale notion ...

I think that Mr Berry is showing that this is a view that he holds, too, in his approach to this particular committee hearing. If members on the crossbenches are serious about reforms to give Assembly committees more power and more influence in decision-making, they will need to take action against the move of those opposite to corrupt the committee system for their own political ends.

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