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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4465 ..

Ms McRae: And who took the most points of order.

MR HUMPHRIES: No doubt it was me. Mr Berry takes lots of points of order. That is quite acceptable. Despite Mr Corbell's appointment as Opposition Whip, he is effectively the leader of Opposition business in this house; and, as leader of Opposition business, he will take most points of order. I am the leader of Government business. I have taken most points of order, probably, if you go back and look at the statistics. That is not surprising. It is not so much points of order that we should be looking at, Ms McRae, as occasions when the standing orders are flagrantly breached. If you maintain that coming down on the Opposition is an act of bias, then you are making a very damning admission about your own behaviour as a Speaker in this place, because the same records will show that for the previous Assembly that was your performance as well.

Mr Speaker, I think that members opposite are being quite churlish. They claim that there has been a systematic use of bias by the Speaker in this place. They have not raised this in any kind of formal way in the Assembly before. I assume, Mr Speaker, that you have received letters from those opposite complaining about your bias in this place. You have not, Mr Speaker?

MR SPEAKER: No.

MR HUMPHRIES: No letters, no telephone calls, no facsimile messages, no anonymous letters, no emissaries, no carrier pigeons, nothing of that kind?

MR SPEAKER: No.

MR HUMPHRIES: Those opposite have found it convenient today, when the Leader of the Opposition gets thrown out, to decide to raise this question of the bias of the Chair; but not to raise it in any formal way, other than by snide remarks on the floor, mostly snide remarks about bias of the kind we have heard here this afternoon. Mr Speaker, I maintain that it is the function of the Speaker to maintain order in the house, to enforce the standing orders. During question time today it was absolutely clear to anybody observing question time that the Opposition was monopolising the attention of Hansard in terms of breaches of standing orders, taking points of order and making interjections - another unparliamentary activity. The record will show that quite clearly. The record will show that there were very few interjections by either the crossbenchers or the Government; that their origin was exclusively in the Opposition.

I think that Mr Whitecross is being very churlish in making comments about expressions of opinion by the Chair. I would certainly say, Mr Speaker, that I have observed you make comments from the chair. They have generally been witty and they have lightened the occasion. They have been done with a quite deft touch. Indeed, members have generally enjoyed those sorts of comments on occasions and have generally laughed at those - including those opposite, particularly when they have been directed at somebody else in the chamber. So, for him now to come into this place and say that the

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