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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 8 Hansard (25 August) . . Page.. 2396 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

a policy which balances both accountability through competition and the encouragement of innovation in such proposals. I hope to be able to do so and report in due course to the Assembly.

MR QUINLAN: Mr Speaker, may I make a personal explanation under standing order 46?

MR SPEAKER: Yes, proceed.

MR QUINLAN: In responding to my question earlier, the Chief Minister quoted me, I think. I have no recollection of saying, "Over my dead body". I would like the Assembly to know that. I find it curious that the Chief Minister would know nothing about the evaluation of the expressions of interest that we were talking about, but would know what I said.

Further, let me make a personal explanation in relation to what I said or what the committee decided. The committee was advised by the representatives who came to make a presentation to the committee, which included the Under Treasurer, that the Government could not set aside the expressions of interests simply because it had given a hastily cobbled together presentation to the committee. The committee, not necessarily me, quite rightly advised that the Government had a responsibility to apprise the whole of the Assembly, and it is the whole of the Assembly that is the appropriate committee to receive this particular information. In fact, what the committee was saying to those three gentlemen - Mr Mackay, the chief executive of ACTEW, and the ABN AMRO representatives, was: "You cannot sweep this lot under the table by bunging on a very quick presentation", as we suspected was being attempted.

MR KAINE: I seek leave to make a personal explanation under standing order 46.

MR SPEAKER: Proceed.

MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, during question time in answer to a question the Attorney-General implied that I had been in communication with or discussed a matter with the accused in a case of which the Attorney-General was well aware. He made a similar implication in May when I first raised the matter. I said then, and I say again for the record, that I have not had any communication with the accused in writing, verbally or in any other way on this matter. Indeed, as far as I know, he is not aware that I was even raising the question today. I want that on the record.

Mr Humphries: What about your staff?

MR KAINE: If Mr Humphries is going to continue to make these snide assertions, I invite him to make them outside this place rather than inside it.

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