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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 5 Hansard (6 May) . . Page.. 1578 ..

MR WOOD (11.10): Mr Speaker, it is not so remarkable that the Chief Minister would take time in the adjournment debate to attack the Opposition and Mr Stanhope. The pressure is showing with the Chief Minister, Mr Moore and others. We saw it in the debate today. When Mr Moore lacks argument he resorts to abuse. He has done it often before and he attacked Mr Stanhope today, as the Chief Minister has tonight. When there is no argument, there is attack and abuse. There is no argument, that is clear, because the Chief Minister did not even defend her deputy in the debate today. She did not stand up and defend him. I think that is very meaningful. The pressure is showing because the Government is increasingly resorting to personal attacks, demeaning attacks on their part, on Mr Stanhope in particular. It is a measure of their concern. It is a measure of the growing pressure around the Chief Minister and on the Chief Minister.

MR BERRY (11.11): The day the Chief Minister comes in here and says that the Labor Party is doing a good job is the day that something has gone terribly wrong with the Labor Party. Mr Speaker, we have seen in the past many personal, vitriolic and spiteful attacks from this Chief Minister and the pattern has not changed. But today is a little different because there is now an Attorney-General who has been tainted by his involvement in an affair in the ACT which has brought great shame on him. He is hanging on by one vote, his own, and he is now tainted because of his behaviour. You had only to watch television tonight to find out how successful a day it was for the Labor Party. Even though Labor was unable to dislodge the Minister, it was clearly pointed out on the TV tonight that the Minister was in trouble. The Minister is tainted as a result of Labor's activities today, particularly the activities of Mr Stanhope, and it was a good day in that respect for Labor because we pointed out the frailties of those opposite. In fact, the Liberals opposite helped us, because the best that they could come up with in the course of the debate was a vitriolic attack on us as individuals, Mr Stanhope in particular, and a vitriolic attack on Mr Collaery, who is their nemesis, it appears, otherwise there would not be such vitriol displayed in the overall presentation of their arguments.

Mr Speaker, today is also a very special day for this Assembly because this is the first day in my memory of this place that posters denigrating the Leader of the Opposition have been spread around the Assembly by staff members of the Liberal Party. They were spread around the Assembly by your staff members or you.

Mr Moore: You want to be careful accusing.

MR BERRY: No, I am not being careful, because I know where they came from and they did not come from us. I hope that one of my staff members or a staff member upstairs is listening to me and can get down here quickly with a poster. The smart alec, postgraduate politics played in the Assembly today has shown through in the vitriolic attack that the Chief Minister has laid on the Assembly tonight. I am glad that you did raise it, because it gives me the opportunity to point to it. It was a shameful piece of work by somebody who is supposed to have some respect in this place. You never take

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