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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (4 September) . . Page.. 3046 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

In 1997 to date the period on average is 19.5 working days - a quite significant reduction. I propose, with the leave of the Assembly, to not answer this question in the detail sought by Ms McRae, but to invite her, if there is any particular issue she wishes to pursue, to contact me to find out the most suitable way of providing that information.

Ms McRae: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I do not believe there are standing orders that allow the Assembly to give the Minister such leave. I would like you to guide us as to whether the Assembly can possibly allow the Minister to not do his duty.

MR SPEAKER: Ms McRae, I am not speaking as Speaker now; I am speaking as a person who on occasions put a question or two on the notice paper. I do remember several responses saying that the resources were not available.

Ms McRae: No, Mr Speaker. I raised a point of order. The Minister said, "by leave of the Assembly". I do not believe that the Assembly can give the Minister such leave. If the Minister puts the question on notice and provides the answer to me in the way that he has, I may choose to bring it back to the Assembly and object; but he has come with a specific requirement to ask for leave of the Assembly, and I believe that is out of order.

MR SPEAKER: If you want an answer, Ms McRae, I am happy to give it to you. No, he does not need leave of the Assembly.

MR HUMPHRIES: No, I do not need leave. Mr Speaker, I will rephrase what I am saying to the Assembly. I propose not to answer the question in the detail provided. As a courtesy to the Assembly, I advise the Assembly of that. If members wish to move a motion to a contrary effect, they can do so, or they can exercise some other power in the standing orders to ask me why the answer has not been provided. Literally hundreds of person-hours, in fact hundreds of person-days, would be required in PALM to provide the information required, and that is simply not justified, given the limited resources of the Territory at this time.

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education and Training and Minister for Sport and Recreation) (11.30): Some members may realise, but others may not, that a person who has contributed a lot to Australian football is about to leave his role as chief executive officer, and that is Steve Dobbie, who, for the last six years, has done a wonderful job for ACTAFL in Canberra. Steve is going to a new job with the Canberra Southern Cross Club.

Mrs Littlewood: To Tuggeranong.

MR STEFANIAK: It is in Tuggeranong. That is right, Mrs Littlewood. It is a step upwards for him, I think, and something he is looking forward to. As Sport Minister and someone who has known Steve for some years, I must say that I think we will all miss him. ACTAFL certainly will. His boots there are going to be very big to fill.

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