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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 9 Hansard (18 November) . . Page.. 2594 ..

MR SPEAKER: Order, please! Mr Humphries is addressing the Chair, and the Assembly through the Chair. We are not having a private debate across the chamber, thank you.

MR HUMPHRIES: Ms Tucker and others will not know whether it addresses the concerns unless they agree to suspend the standing orders and allow Mr Osborne to present to the chamber the Bill which he has in his hands. This Bill - I can say this to the chamber because I have seen the Bill - is a consolidation of the amendments to Mr Osborne's existing Bill which I tabled in the last 48 hours. This will allow members of the Assembly to consider afresh the issues which were raised in his original Bill as amended by my amendments, which I think all members of the chamber have now seen.

Mr Speaker, it addresses concerns Ms Tucker raised yesterday about having to debate these amendments to a Bill today because it allows members at least one week in which to consider the amendments which are being put forward by me, not in the form of amendments to a Bill which is a separate piece of paper but in the form of a consolidated Bill. It also addresses the concerns being raised by members, including Ms Tucker, that the amendments I had presented or I was going to present to Mr Osborne's original Bill constituted a fresh Bill. If Ms Tucker was right in that view then the issue will be answered if standing orders are suspended to allow the presentation of a new Bill which takes on board the concerns Ms Tucker raised. I hope Ms Tucker, in particular, will support this suspension of standing orders because it amounts to the addressing of the concerns that she raised in this place.

Mr Speaker, rather than have me speak at length about what Mr Osborne has done, I understand that Mr Osborne was able to get a Bill only late last night which he now proposes to present to the chamber today. That is why the Bill does not appear on the daily program. Members are seeing a Bill being introduced by means of the suspension of standing orders rather than appearing on the daily program, but it is not the first time they have agreed to Bills appearing in that way, nor will it be the last time. I remind members that they have only just agreed to give leave to Mr Rugendyke to present a Bill of which they have had no advance notice either, and this ought to constitute no different case. Mr Speaker, this is a logical and reasonable motion, and I urge members of the Assembly to support it for that reason.

MR CORBELL (11.12): Mr Speaker, the question before the Assembly today is whether or not we should allow Mr Osborne to introduce his new Bill. This is a Bill that has not been considered by the Administration and Procedure Committee and, as previous members have pointed out, we have a process in this place.

Mr Humphries: Nor was the previous Bill.

MR CORBELL: Contrary to the views of the Attorney-General, it was indicated at the meeting yesterday that Mr Rugendyke would be introducing a Bill and, as Mr Moore has quite rightly pointed out, it appears on the daily program. In contrast, Mr Osborne did no such thing, even though he was present at the meeting. He had every opportunity, Mr Speaker, to indicate that there was at least even the possibility that he would be introducing a Bill, as he did on behalf of Mr Rugendyke, but he did no such thing.

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