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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (4 November) . . Page.. 3504 ..

Mr Humphries: I said "may be capable".

MR BERRY: Okay; it may be capable of being remedied. Why did you say that, Minister, if you had legal advice that said it could not be? One thing that is clear is that the Minister is confused about what has happened in the past and what his position actually is in relation to this matter. He says one thing in a speech and then argues against it. I am not prepared to muck about anymore with the Government's toing-and-froing on the issue. Mr Moore's position resolves the thing once and for all, and we will be supporting the proposal put forward by Mr Moore. That will be the end of the matter.

If there is any question about a change in approach to the way we deal with justices of the peace, that will require another amendment to be moved to address that issue. There is no doubt that the Act in its original form covered justices of the peace. There has not been a move to change the Act in its application to justices of the peace, except for that which is now proposed by the Government. Mr Moore's amendments resolve the situation once and for all and will therefore be supported. I am pleased to see that the Government will now support that course. It becomes a solution to a problem which really was not much of a problem at all, it seems.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General) (11.16): Mr Speaker, the stupidity displayed by the Leader of the Opposition is quite mind boggling. How a man who purports to be the next Chief Minister of the ACT could rise to make these sorts of stupid comments is quite beyond me. I did not say at any stage that the problem was certainly capable of being fixed administratively. I said that it may be capable of being fixed in that way. For the benefit of members, I will table the advice I have received on this subject from Ms Anna Lennon, executive director of - - -

Mr Berry: So it may not be capable of being remedied administratively?

MR HUMPHRIES: I have said that. I said that in my speech. Read my speech, Mr Berry. It is very clear.

Mr Berry: "May be" or "may not be"?

MR HUMPHRIES: It is there. Read it. Read the words. Read them yourself. The speech states:

While this uncertainty may be capable of being remedied ...

It says "may". I table the advice on which that is based. It is clear that there is an ambiguity about it. The recommendation to me was, "It might be fixed in this way but, to be sure, fix the legislation". That was the advice to me. Mr Berry has compared this with the approach taken by the Government on the determination of health fees. Let me point out to Mr Berry, for his no doubt considerable edification, that the determination being debated there was a piece of subordinate legislation. The matter which is being corrected here is a piece of legislation. Vastly different principles apply to their operation.

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