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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 1737 ..

Mr Hargreaves: You are the most insulting woman I have ever struck in my born days.

Mr Corbell: That is pathetic.

MS CARNELL: Mr Berry - - -

Mr Hargreaves: You are not only scurrilous, you are insulting. You are scurrilous.

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I am quoting Mr Berry's own words.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order.

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I am quoting Mr Berry's own words. Mr Berry continued:

A grave responsibility falls on the shoulders of men, male legislators, for failing to do their duty in the past. Wishing that the issue would go away will not help.

Mr Speaker, to quote Mr Berry: "Wishing that the issue would go away will not help". Mr Speaker, why has Mr Berry changed his mind so dramatically? Why have those men opposite decided, as I understand it, to vote for this motion? Could it be that Mr Berry was right in 1994 when he made the point that men were unwilling to debate this issue? Mr Speaker, I do not support Mr Osborne's Bill in any way, but I believe very strongly, as do my colleagues, that this is an issue that should be debated. Surely, by forcing the Bill to be withdrawn, Mr Berry and his male colleagues are "failing to do their duty", to quote Mr Berry, on an important issue, and that is to have a debate on this issue.

I think it is also important to quote some of those incredibly pious comments we heard in this place last week when Mr Berry, at that stage, was suggesting that Mr Osborne's Bill should be left on the table for debate until at least December. Mr Berry said last week:

This Bill deserves a proper airing.

That appears on page 59 of the uncorrected proof copy of Hansard.

Mr Humphries: Really? Who said that?

MS CARNELL: Mr Berry said:

This Bill deserves a proper airing.

That was not in 1994; it was last week. Mr Stanhope last week said:

It is appropriate, now that Mr Osborne has chosen to raise the issue, for it to be debated properly and fully, and appropriately. I do not think it is a debate we can run away from.

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