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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 133 ..

MR SPEAKER: No, there is no point of order whatsoever. The fact is that Mr Moore has already indicated that he is not speaking for the Liberal Party. However, he is speaking as Minister for Health in this Government.

Mr Kaine: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. Would you like me to restate my question? It was not to the Minister for Health. It was to the Chief Minister, and it has to do with Carnell Government Liberal Party policy. He cannot be the spokesman for either of those issues.

Mr Humphries: Mr Speaker, can I just be sure about Mr Kaine's point of order? If Mr Kaine is asking about Liberal Party policy, that is not a proper subject for a question to a Minister of a government in question time. Ministers are not responsible for Liberal Party policy. They do not formulate Liberal Party policy. That is formulated by the party. If the president of the Liberal Party were a member of the Government, Mr Kaine could ask that question of them. Mr Moore is the Minister in the Government responsible for policy in relation to health. Therefore, he should answer this question.

MR SPEAKER: I have no problem with this, if Mr Moore does not stray into Liberal Party policy. Proceed.

MR MOORE: The answer to Mr Kaine's question comes from the quote that he read. It referred to the Carnell Government. It did not use the word "Liberal". Have a look at the papers in front of you. Mr Kaine himself added the word "Liberal" to ask part of a question which would have been out of order. I will stay away from that part of the question because it would be entirely inappropriate for me to answer a part of a question that would be out of order. But I am quite happy to mention to you, Mr Kaine, that the matter of safe injecting rooms is still on the government agenda, but I think the most important part of it is that we followed a process where quite a number of members attended the - - -

Mr Stanhope: Are you voting for it, Bill?

MR MOORE: I hear an interjection from Mr Stanhope saying, "Did you vote for it, Bill?". I presume he was referring to Mr Stefaniak, not Mr Wood. I think it is important for Mr Stanhope to remember that, when decisions are taken in Cabinet, members are not required to reveal whether they voted for something or not. There are many times we could ask, "Did you vote for it, Simon?". There are many times we could ask, "Did you vote for it, Ted?". But, of course, we understand that there is a convention amongst the parties about these issues.

What I would like to say, Mr Kaine, is that quite a number of members of the Assembly attended a public forum that was held in the Canberra Theatre just last week. It was a very good and very important forum. At that forum there were - - -

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