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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 1821 ..

Mr Stanhope: I did not. I said I loved it.

MS CARNELL: He loved it when it was free. I think it is essential that everyone get behind - - -

Mr Stanhope: There was no "only". Where did the "only" come in, Chief Minister?

MS CARNELL: You like it when it is not free as well?

MR SPEAKER: Order, please! Chief Minister, Mr Stanhope will have the opportunity, if he wishes to take advantage of standing order 46, to explain himself. I have to take your point that the only interjection that I heard, which was out of order, was not qualified.

MS CARNELL: It is absolutely essential that everybody in this place get behind Floriade this year and every year. It is our premier festival for the year. It is a festival that we put more money into than all of our other festivals put together. If members opposite continue to talk it down, then it could affect the festival. I do not want that to happen. I am sure Canberrans do not, and I am sure the 900 people who get jobs as a result of Floriade do not want that to happen. Let us get rid of the bellyaching and get on with supporting Floriade.

MR SPEAKER: Would you like to make a personal explanation now, Mr Stanhope?

Mr Stanhope: No, thank you, Mr Speaker, though I was grateful for your ruling that the Chief Minister had misrepresented me. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: No, I did not make that ruling at all, Mr Stanhope. I invited you to make a statement, if you wished, under standing order 46.

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition): I will. Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity. Sorry, Mr Speaker, I did misunderstand you. I at no stage used the word "only" in my interjection. The word that the Chief Minister attributed to me completely distorted what I had said and what I had interjected. I made the point that the Chief Minister has been doing this all week. She has been deliberately distorting things that members of the Opposition have been saying, to the point where basically she has been telling untruths. That was the point that I wished to make. She did it on this occasion by applying the word "only" to me. I thought that you had suggested to the Chief Minister that I had not used that qualifying word. That was the point I wished to make. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Berry: I do not need to make a comment, Mr Speaker. Mr Stanhope has adequately presented my case as well.

MR SPEAKER: It might be a very good idea if you did not. Mr Stanhope, I have just checked, and I am afraid that the word "untruth" is unparliamentary.

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