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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 3516 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

I would also like to thank my lone staff member and those who have stood in for her on occasions for their diligent attention to duty. The Labor Party staff, of course, have all performed impeccably under an unbearable workload and they are all congratulated for their attention to duty. At this time of the year it is also important to wish each other a peaceful and safe Christmas period. I extend that offer to everybody and look forward to seeing you in fine trim next year, as I promise you I will be.

MR KAINE (5.43): Mr Speaker, in the nearly 10 years of self-government I have not previously spoken on the adjournment before Christmas, but I thought I would create a precedent by doing so tonight. The reason why I thought that is that members will recall that there has been some debate in recent days about motor vehicles. After that debate I thought, "If everybody in this place had their druthers, what sort of motor vehicle would they have?". I gave that a bit of thought and I have come up with what I think the wish list of members of this place would be if Santa Claus - I mean the Chief Minister - were to meet everybody's expectations. I thought I should start with the Chief Minister and I concluded that, if she had her druthers, she would have a sporty little MG, perhaps British racing green.

Mr Berry: With training wheels.

MR KAINE: No, but it would have a nice big roll bar on it. Then I got to Mr Humphries. That did not present me with any difficulty at all because Mr Humphries is constantly running around putting out bushfires. Obviously a nice and shiny new fire engine with flashing lights and a siren on it would be just great. Mr Moore was a bit of a problem, but I thought of a bandwagon, or maybe a whole fleet of them, because he is getting expert at jumping on and off. For Mr Stefaniak I could not go past a Centurion tank. It is big enough for him and it suits his style. Mr Smyth gave me a bit of a problem. I finally thought of a little dinky Mini Minor, but anything at all with training wheels. Alternatively, he might like to take a back seat in Mr Stefaniak's Centurion tank and take some lessons. Mr Hird was easy - an ex-Army ambulance, preferably a Dodge, just like the one he used to drive when he was in the Army.

For the two Osbornes, I originally thought of a pair of matching Osborne paddy wagons. I thought, "Well, that is fine for Mr Rugendyke. He is familiar with that, hopefully from the outside, not from the inside; but it would not quite suit Mr Osborne. Because of Mr Osborne's rapidly expanding expectations, shall we say, a stretch limousine might be appropriate". For Ms Tucker, forget the gas-filled sedan - a coach and four white horses.

For the Labor team, with the exception of one, I thought that they would probably like any vehicle made in Australia by fully paid-up union members. There is a small proviso in that Mr Stanhope, Mr Quinlan and Mr Hargreaves should not have their P-plates on them. The member I have not referred to before in the Labor Party is Mr Berry. For him I think that a 1935 Ford sedan suitable for restoration would be just great.

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