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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 4120 ..

MS HORODNY: I am getting to it. It is a very long, detailed and complex issue, and I am afraid - - -

MR SPEAKER: The standing orders are quite specific, Ms Horodny. They say:

Having obtained leave from the Chair, a Member may explain matters of a personal nature, although there is no question before the Assembly; but such matters may not be debated.

Ms Tucker: Mr Speaker, I think Ms Horodny is entitled to take her time to respond to the misrepresentation, or a different understanding of a series of events that occurred over that period. It is, indeed, a personal explanation, and she has been misrepresented in Hansard.

MR SPEAKER: Then let her say how that happened.

MS HORODNY: I am happy to address the house and not speak to Mr Humphries on this issue. What happened, in fact, was that Mr Humphries came to see me about this proposal. Mr Humphries may or may not have known that this article had already appeared in a mountain cycle magazine. People, organisations and individuals in the community had heard already about this proposal and were already reacting to it. In other words, Mr Humphries had come to me with a loaded dog, in essence, and he was expecting me to come up with a process for him in terms of the consultation that he should then go through.

The problem was that the issue was already out there in the community. There was already considerable debate going on about the mountain bike championships being held on that particular site at Black Mountain. It was already a problem. People were already ringing me and talking to me about it. It had appeared in a magazine, as I said. It was not my responsibility to give Mr Humphries a process for dealing with it. It was already a sham. Now, that is - - -

Mr Humphries: But you agreed that you would do so. You agreed to do so, Lucy.

MS HORODNY: I am not going to debate this at this point, Mr Humphries. I am presenting the case as I saw it. Mr Humphries, I believe, as Minister for the Environment, should have put his foot down when the proposal came to him - - -

MR SPEAKER: Order! You are now not making a personal explanation. You are now debating the issue.

MS HORODNY: Okay, I will not debate the issue. That is my personal explanation of that situation.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning): Under standing order 46, Mr Speaker, I also wish to make a personal explanation. I do not want to take up the time of the Assembly. I stand by the remarks I made on 23 September. Obviously, there is a difference of view between Ms Horodny and me about what we said to each other. In the face of intense criticism from the Greens

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