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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 3491 ..

Mr Moore: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I have clearly been misrepresented. At no stage did I say that I did not want these submissions published. What I said was that it is very interesting - - -

Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, he is debating the issue.

MR SPEAKER: No, he is not debating the issue. He is giving a personal explanation under standing order 47.

Mr Moore: I am saying what I did not say and what I did say.

Mr Berry: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The appropriate time for that course to be taken is at the conclusion of the debate.

MR SPEAKER: Then he can say it under standing order 47, can he not, on a point of order?

MS TUCKER: I seek leave to speak again before the debate is adjourned.

Leave granted.

MS TUCKER: I think I need to clarify a couple of things that have been misrepresented. I am very sorry if I should have given members more notice. I am prepared to accept an adjournment. I did not think it would be controversial to move a motion referring to submissions which were left in limbo because for some reason - I do not know what it was - a committee of inquiry was set up in this place and nothing happened. I think that is a scandal, to start with. I was not going to get into this matter in depth, but I will because of what has happened here.

People in the community asked to make submissions on the very interesting, controversial issue of immunisation of children. We just heard the chair of the former Select Committee on Legal Affairs say that he would not like the submissions to be published because they might confuse the community. Some of the submissions will challenge whether or not immunisation is a good thing. Mr Osborne's stand is intellectual suppression that I have never seen in this place before. It is an absolute scandal.

I am seeking to refer these submissions to a committee of this Assembly so that it can look at them and see which of them are okay to be authorised for publication. Where else could I send such submissions? I am not saying that we should publish them ad hoc. I am saying that we should send them to a committee of this Assembly to authorise their publication. It does not mean that we have to have another inquiry. I would be happy if the Health Committee were interested in the subject and prepared to take it on. They might see it through and do the work the past committee did not do, for whatever reason. All this motion is about is acknowledging the work of the community, who put a lot of trouble into writing submissions to a committee of this place and who were treated with absolute disrespect because nothing happened to their submissions.

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