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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4908 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

I want to assure you that my concerns do not relate to your appointment as chair, nor to the appointment of other committee members as I accept that your and their participation has been entirely in good faith.

Mr Speaker, that is the position that I adopted. I want to foreshadow an amendment to this motion which I think goes to this issue. My amendment will cause the motion moved by the Chief Minister to read as follows:

This Assembly recommends that the next Assembly instigate a joint Commonwealth-ACT Review of Governance of the Australian Capital Territory.

Then they would be in a good position to examine the effects of the latest version of the electoral system on the electorate. I do not believe that the electoral system should be left out of the review, by the way.

Mrs Carnell: We had a referendum. It is entrenched.

MR BERRY: Somebody says, "It is entrenched". Does that mean that it can never be looked at again? No, of course it does not. That is the very point that I make. This place is the product of an electoral system. If you are looking at this place and the way that it operates, it is fair that you look at the electoral system which created it, for heaven's sake. You cannot look at one and not the other if you are looking at governance in the ACT. I am saying to you that I would never have supported a review going forward without the review looking at the electoral system. It is crazy to do so and it is dishonest to do so, because you are misleading the electorate into a position where they might consider that the matter is being properly looked at. It is not, if the electoral system is not being looked at.

Mrs Carnell, you raised this letter that you sent to me on 13 October, after the decision was made. That letter reads:

I am writing to you about the proposed joint Territory-Commonwealth review of self-government.

I have enclosed draft terms of reference for the review, and I would appreciate your comment on them. Your urgent advice would be appreciated as the incoming Minister for Territories, the Hon. Alexander Somlyay MP is keen to settle them and the administrative arrangements for the review as soon as possible.

The review was going ahead no matter what. The decision had been made. It was a stunt from the start. It was about creating the impression that Kate Carnell was doing something about self-government in the ACT, trying to rake over the old coals and trying to extract some popularity out of her concerns about self-government. That is what this stunt was about. It was a pre-election stunt. It has nothing to do with the quality of governance in the ACT. It is about the quality of publicity that Kate Carnell can bleed

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