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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 1893 ..

MR BERRY: I am coming to that, Mr Speaker. You always remind us that we should come to the point of the question at the end of the day. There was a recommendation by the majority of committee members in relation to the Floriade fee. As a result of a motion passed yesterday, with an amendment, the recommendation was accepted by the Assembly almost word perfect. As I explained to the Chief Minister, it is not the role of the Estimates Committee to construct budgets. I would be quite happy if that role was given over to the Estimates Committee, because I am certain that we could do a better job of it than the Government has, but that is not our role. We do not present budgets.

Mr Humphries: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The question was pretty concise. It was: "Did you determine what the recommendations your committee put forward would cost?". Nothing Mr Berry has said in his 10 minutes so far has actually addressed that question.

MR SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order.

Ms Tucker: I wish to comment on that ruling, Mr Speaker. When I asked last week that you insist the Chief Minister answer my question you did not insist on it, and as Ms Carnell sat down she said, "I will answer it how I bloody-well like". Why do we not have a little bit of consistency?

Ms Carnell: No, I did not say that, Mr Speaker. I ask for that to be withdrawn.

MR SPEAKER: I hope you withdrew the word if you used it.

Ms Carnell: I did not say that.

MR SPEAKER: I will have to check Hansard on that one.

MR BERRY: If the Chief Minister did say that, she was taking your lead, and it is another one of your expert assessments of the standing orders.

MR SPEAKER: Thank you. Be careful.

MR BERRY: In relation to the Floriade fee, the decision of course was taken by the - - -

Mr Humphries: I rise on a point of order again.

MR SPEAKER: Order! We are now dealing with irrelevance to the question.

Mr Humphries: I think we are, Mr Speaker. You have already ruled that the answer has to be relevant. Floriade is not the question. The question was about all the recommendations and the budget.

Mr Corbell: On the point of order, Mr Speaker: The Floriade recommendation is one of the recommendations of the Estimates Committee, and it relates directly to the question Mr Berry was asked as chair of that committee.

MR SPEAKER: No, the question was: "Did you cost it?".

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