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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 8 Hansard (28 October) . . Page.. 2362 ..

MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, I would also add something to a question Mr Hargreaves asked at question time. My advice - when my staff member contacted Mr Paul Dyer at the Calvary Hospital - is that since Christmas there have not been any changes of the sort that he was talking about. However, I have asked for further information and to verify that in writing in case there was some misunderstanding in the communication. Can I just say to members that if they have a detailed question - I may well have had that one in my folder - and give 10 or 15 minutes' notice before asking it in the Assembly, I would often be able to give them the details.

MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Moore. I would like to endorse your remark. It is impossible to answer a detailed question without notice. You may, of course, be prepared to take it on notice. That is perfectly in order. I am just reminding members.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Stanhope, I recognise you. You do not need leave to ask me a question.

MR STANHOPE: Thank you very much. Mr Speaker, this may be a personal physical failing of mine, but on lots of occasions within the chamber here I do struggle to hear the crossbench. As we all know, the crossbench members tend to make a far more valuable contribution to debate in this place than perhaps the other side does, and I am sorry that at times I cannot hear them. I have raised this before. I do not know whether this is a personal failing of mine, Mr Speaker, or whether there is a deficiency in the acoustics or the microphones in this area, but I ask you, having regard to your responsibility for the Assembly, whether there has been a detailed investigation of the acoustics in the chamber, whether perhaps further investigation is warranted, or whether there is something we can do. I often struggle to hear members of the crossbench.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Stanhope, I cannot really answer your question. I cannot hear them either. Therefore, I will be very happy to have the matter investigated and see whether we can do something about it. Seriously, I have noticed that there has been a bit of a problem at this end of the chamber, and we would hate to miss their contributions.

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I claim to have been misrepresented. In question time I interjected on Mr Humphries about the Government sacking public servants. He responded by saying that in 1991, or whatever year, $17m was provided for redundancies. Indeed, there were redundancies for teachers who wanted early retirement, and each teacher who retired was replaced by another teacher, albeit at a lower level of salary. So there was no loss of teachers and there were no sackings.

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