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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4829 ..

Mr Corbell: You have not listened to the question. I am quite happy to read it again so that you can understand the context - - -

MR SPEAKER: I think the Attorney-General is well aware of what the question is.

Mr Corbell: Mr Speaker, I would ask you to realise that the quote that I read was to put the matter in context. I am not asking the Attorney-General to comment on the quote. I am asking the Attorney-General to comment on the activities of the chief executive of the department for which he is responsible as the appropriate Minister and on the activities of the ambulance officers, for whom he is also the responsible Minister.

MR SPEAKER: The matters that you raise may be very much hypothetical.

Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, I think that that is a quite unfair assessment of the question. I have a copy. It reads as follows - - -

MR SPEAKER: Never mind what it says. You have asked your question already.

Mr Berry: No, Mr Speaker. It is - - -

MR SPEAKER: I would ask you to be careful that you do not breach standing order 117.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, this question is clearly out of order; but I am prepared to answer it so as not to give those opposite the ammunition that they used yesterday to claim that they had been suppressed in their attempt to get information, despite the Chief Minister's very full statement yesterday on the matter.

Mr Speaker, the answer to the first question asked by Mr Corbell is no. As far as advice by the head of my department concerning ambulance officers' statements is concerned, I have no knowledge of any advice he has given or any instructions he has given. I will take that part of the question on notice. I am aware, however, that the statement that I understand was made by ambulance officers of the ACT Ambulance Service was entirely consistent with what the Chief Minister said both publicly and in her statement to the police. The inference Mr Corbell made about there being some problem with leaving the scene of the accident, implying that that was illegal, was clearly dealt with by advice tabled yesterday in this place showing that there was no such offence.

MR CORBELL: I ask a supplementary question. I wonder whether the Minister could table any advice that he has received concerning the activities of the ambulance officers at the scene of the accident on Sunday.

MR SPEAKER: If you have any advice.

MR HUMPHRIES: I received no such advice in writing.

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