Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4782 ..

Amendment (Ms Tucker's) negatived.

Amendment (Mr Humphries's) agreed to.

Remainder of Bill, as a whole, as amended, agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

ADJOURNMENT

Motion (by Mr Humphries) proposed:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Chief Minister - Motor Vehicle Accident

MRS LITTLEWOOD (5.45): I rise this evening to mention something which I find somewhat disquieting and which I feel quite strongly about. I appreciate that I have been in this place for only a short period of time and may not be fully conversant with some of the finer points. I have heard and seen a number of things that have occurred in that time, but I must say that question time today, I think, reached an all-time low. I found the attack on the Chief Minister as a result of the car accident absolutely appalling, to be quite frank. None of us choose to have accidents; they happen. The kilometres travelled by people in this place would probably place us in a fairly high risk category, in any case. I know that I have travelled over 7,000 kilometres in about eight weeks.

I am sorry to bore you, Mr Speaker; but, to me, it is important. I think the questions today really were a bit below the belt. I was appalled, quite frankly, by question time today and by the way in which the Opposition behaved themselves and the inferences that were drawn about the accident. I am sure the whole thing has shaken the Chief Minister up. I think anybody who has ever been in a car accident is aware that rolling a car is not a particularly pleasant experience. Then to have people like those opposite try to infer something that most probably was not even the case is rather off.

We have had the Opposition try to lay the blame for the hospital implosion on Mrs Carnell. That has not worked. Now we have the car accident. As Mr Moore said only a few weeks ago, if Mrs Carnell were to walk across water, Mr Berry and those opposite would say, "See, we told you that she could not swim". Unfortunately, I think that happens to be the case. I think the Opposition should be condemned for the comments they made at question time today.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .