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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 5 Hansard (26 August) . . Page.. 1382 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

to deliver a different approach, a new, fresh Labor. Instead, you have allowed Mr Berry to get back up and pull the strings and play the same role as he did in the last Assembly, exactly the same as he was doing when he was rejected so clearly by the people of the ACT at the last election.

The main reason I developed this legislative program that has touched such a raw nerve with the Labor Party is that it was a recommendation of the Pettit report. As Mr Kaine says, we ought not to treat that report as gospel. Indeed, Professor Pettit in presenting it said that we ought not to treat it as gospel. But it was clearly a very sensible idea that crossbench members and the Opposition and the Government all develop legislative programs so that we can see what members intend to do. This is part of establishing a more cooperative government, a better way to work.

Mr Stanhope went on to say that this is just Mr Moore's problem. Interestingly, the fact that you cannot put me in a standard box that you are used to and feel very comfortable with is not so much my problem as your problem. You cannot open your minds enough to say, "Well, perhaps we will do something just a little bit different". No, every time that anybody in this Assembly has suggested doing something different, it has not come from the conservatives, that is, the Labor Party; it has come from somewhere else in the Assembly. Every time there is a suggestion to do something different, who rails against it? Jon Stanhope and his Labor Party, that failed Leader of the Opposition.

Mr Speaker, this is not a coalition. The Westminster system exists not just in the United Kingdom but in a whole series of parliaments right across the Commonwealth. Yes, we are different. We should not be frightened of being different. It is because we have been different that this Assembly has managed to achieve so much in a very short period of existence. Before it has reached even 10 years, this Assembly has achieved a huge amount. When I say "this Assembly", I do not just mean those in government in this Assembly. I mean every single member who has served in this Assembly over the last nine years, all of whom have made a contribution.

Mr Stanhope: Particularly you.

MR MOORE: Thank you, Mr Stanhope. Yes, Mr Stanhope, particularly me because - - -

Mr Corbell: Shameless, absolutely shameless!

MR MOORE: It is nothing to do with being shameless. It has to do with pride. I am fiercely proud of the effort that I have put in over this Assembly and, Mr Speaker, I have nothing to be modest about in terms of my achievements over the last nine years in ensuring that the Government answers to the Assembly. I have nothing to be modest about as far as that goes. It comes from hard work, Mr Speaker. I am not suggesting for one minute that I am the only one who has put in hard work here. The vast majority of members of this Assembly over the last nine years have put in a huge amount of hard work, and none of them should be embarrassed about what they have achieved.

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