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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 3179 ..
MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General) (6.01), in reply: Mr Speaker - - -
Mr Moore: Go on; defend Mr Hird, Gary.
MR HUMPHRIES: No, I am sorry; that is going a little far. Mr Speaker, to contribute to this edifying debate which no doubt nobody reading the Hansard will be the least bit interested in but we are all vitally concerned about here - - -
Mr Moore: I would not say "all". I would say "just the Labor and Liberal parties".
MR HUMPHRIES: Perhaps that is so. Mr Speaker, it is indeed the case that I have been critical of the Labor Party for entering into an arrangement with respect to their view of the pairing arrangement between Mr Hird and Mr Berry or someone on the Labor Party side, because I believed that this was based on a unilateral interpretation of the pairing arrangement which the Labor Party had adopted. Indeed, I did have strong words with Mr Berry this morning about that arrangement and, as I saw it, lack of good faith on the part of the Labor Party about that matter. I have had my office check with Mr Hird, who is in the Indian Ocean somewhere at the moment - - -
MR SPEAKER: I do hope he is swimming, Mr Humphries.
MR HUMPHRIES: I do not know whether he is in the ocean literally, Mr Speaker. It appears that the arrangement on the part of the Labor Party that I so decried was indeed the arrangement that was agreed to by Mr Hird. I am not sure that I am convinced that Mr Corbell was ever a quivering mess on hearing the radio this morning, but I have a feeling that Mr Hird will be a quivering mess when he returns to the ACT. He certainly will be after I speak to him about this arrangement he has entered into. I repeat my sincere and profound regret that I doubted the bona fides of the Labor Party on this matter.
Mr Berry: Or Mr Berry.
MR HUMPHRIES: Or Mr Berry. There will be many opportunities to doubt the bona fides of the Labor Party on other scores, but on this particular occasion they are as innocent as the driven snow.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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