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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 3178 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

The defence put up by this person was that he had done nothing wilfully; that, if anything, it was an oversight on his part; and that basically he had stuffed up. I do not particularly wish to say that this fellow lied to me. I did go through all the issues with him. He brought in all his paperwork. I suppose that I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. The fact is that the reason why he was not named by the Law Society was that the Act is deficient, which left me in a situation of whether I should play the man or play the ball.

In fairness to this fellow, I have decided that I will not name him and that I will give him the benefit of the doubt. However, it has strengthened my resolve about the whole issue of the Law Society and the Legal Practitioners Act. The Minister this morning tabled a couple of Bills which I will be looking at and perhaps amending in regard to this issue. I still believe that it is not fair that solicitors cannot be named, when any other member of the community, if they are in this situation - whether it is a stuff-up, whether it is wilful deceit or whatever - certainly would have their name splashed across the paper. As I said, it is not this fellow's fault that the Act is in place, so I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and not name him. I just thought it important that I finalise the issue with you, Mr Speaker.

MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition) (5.59): Mr Speaker, you can put a cross on the wall. I rise to defend Mr Humphries. In the course of today's proceedings I have had the opportunity to have a verbal exchange with Mr Humphries about pairing arrangements which might apply in this chamber. During that exchange we were giving each other various versions of history about pairing arrangements in this place. Pairs are an important feature of a parliament like this one and they are things we take seriously.

My colleague Mr Corbell has been reduced to a shivering mess by the unwarranted and outrageous attack on public radio today. I am sure that he will recover quickly when I let him know that Mr Humphries called me this afternoon, informed me that he had been in touch with the Government Whip and that the Government Whip had informed him that he had in fact agreed to the arrangements that we had proposed, and Mr Humphries fulsomely apologised. Mr Corbell, you need worry no longer about the intentions of Mr Humphries. I trust that those of us in the Assembly who happened to be listening to the radio this morning and heard Mr Humphries unfairly berating the Labor Party in relation to this matter will now not be misled as to the discussions and occurrences in relation to pairing in this Assembly.

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