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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 9 Hansard (18 November) . . Page.. 2619 ..

Mr Moore: Did it work?

MR SMYTH: Of course it worked. We got there promptly and the then candidate was still there. The member should now be ashamed of himself for wasting public resources on nothing more than a ridiculous stunt that backfired on him in the course of an election campaign.

Mr Hird: Who was it?

MR SMYTH: He knows who it is.

MR SPEAKER: There is no need to identify the person. Under standing order 117(b)(i) questions shall not contain statements of fact or names of persons unless they are strictly necessary to render the question intelligible and the facts can be authenticated.

MR BERRY: My question is to the Minister for Health and Community Care. Noting the Minister's recent refusal to rule out the privatisation of our public hospitals and further noting that the Northern Territory is flirting with the privatisation of its public hospital, will the Minister unequivocally rule out any contact by him or his officials or discussions with anyone in relation to privatisation of all or part of our hospital system?

MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, with the wisdom of hindsight some of us can always think of ways we could have done things better. When I answered the question in Estimates Committee, I refused to rule that out. I think what I should have said was that I will not play your rule-out games. I am not going to start saying, "I am not doing rule-out on this. I am not doing rule-out on that".

Mr Corbell: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. The question was not asking the Minister to rule anything in or out. It was asking the Minister whether he had had any discussions with anyone relating to the privatisation of the hospital system. He has not answered the question.

Mr Humphries: On the point of order: That was not what the question was. Mr Berry said, "Will you rule out any future discussions?". Watch your script, Mr Corbell. You are reading the same script that Mr Berry read. Read the question out again, Mr Berry.

MR SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. I would ask Mr Berry, who asked the question, whether he would like to ask a supplementary question.

MR BERRY: Has there been any contact by the Minister or any of his officials with anybody in relation to privatisation of our hospital system?

MR MOORE: Mr Berry, let me reiterate my position. I will not play any rule-out games.

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