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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 8 Hansard (28 October) . . Page.. 2370 ..

Mr Humphries: Mr Speaker, I take a point of order. Will Mr Corbell table the document he has quoted from?

MR CORBELL: It is a very lengthy document, but I am happy to make a copy of the relevant page available and table that if that would satisfy the Government's concern.

Mr Humphries: Sorry, no. Sorry, Mr Speaker, there is a provision for the tabling of the whole document.

MR CORBELL: Well, yes, I am happy to table it.

MR SPEAKER: Thank you. Mr Corbell is happy to table it. There should be no further argument.

MR CORBELL: I am very happy to table the document. The point I am making, Mr Speaker, is that I relied on information which I believed to be accurate and reliable.

Mr Berry: Are you finished with the document or do you want it back?

MR CORBELL: I am finished with the document.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Corbell would be the best judge of that.

MR CORBELL: I relied on a document which was accurate and reliable. I checked the figures in the document to make sure they were accurate and reliable. The figures I quoted in this place were accurate, not just according to that document but according to the advice of the Office of the Regulator-General.

Mr Kaine: Even according to the one Mr Humphries tabled.

MR CORBELL: That is quite right, Mr Kaine - even according to the advice that has been tabled by the person who is trying to censure me. Quite true. If, Mr Speaker, I had been quoting from this document, if I had been quoting and relying on information in the document Mr Humphries has tabled, then he would be quite right to move his censure motion. But I did not. I did not.

Mr Humphries: It is the impression you have created.

MR CORBELL: If we are talking about impressions created, Mr Humphries, perhaps we can go back to blocks and leases. Perhaps we can go back to major contracts and sites. Let us think about where the bar has been put in this place. Let us think about whether the bar has been lowered. Mr Humphries and the Government have stood up in this place and said, "The bar is very high on censure motions", and deliberately so. They tell us this in very onerous tones. They tell us this is a very serious and credible matter. Well, Mr Humphries, you are not putting the bar up here. You are putting it down here. You are putting it down so that we can just step over the top of it. That way you can censure just about anyone for anything. On your own criteria, Mr Humphries, you are lowering the bar on which censure motions can take place. It is a completely absurd proposition.

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