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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (5 November) . . Page.. 3678 ..

MRS LITTLEWOOD (continuing):

Chief Minister that if I wished to adjourn the debate I could do so, to give me more time to analyse the Bill and to confer with someone whom I have a very high regard for and who, in fact, was out of Australia at the time and I could not speak to. Therefore, I moved to adjourn the debate. That was the reason I did it. I had every intention of coming back to vote. In the interim, the Andrews Bill was passed, which made the whole thing fairly academic. So, for the record, Mr Speaker, that is what happened and - - -

Mr Berry: Tell us about the phone call from the Prime Minister.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MRS LITTLEWOOD: I did not have any phone call. We are allowed to use our consciences, Mr Berry; it is something that your side of the house would not know about.

MR SPEAKER: Order! That is the end of the personal explanation.

MRS LITTLEWOOD: Thank you, Mr Speaker.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General): Mr Speaker, let me make just a small observation: I had intended to vote against clause 4 of that Bill, but I voted in favour of it. I do not seek to correct the record, but I just want to put it on the record so that it is there.

Motion (by Mr Humphries) proposed:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition) (5.40): At lunchtime today, Wednesday, 5 November, a member of the community attempted to contact the mental health emergency 24-hour-a-day crisis hotline. The phone rang out twice and the member stopped attempting to contact the hotline. It seems that our 24-hour-a-day crisis hotline is now perhaps a 23-hour one. I pose the question to the Health Minister: Are the mentally ill meant to wait until after lunch to get adequate care?

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