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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 10 Hansard (14 October) . . Page.. 3188 ..

MR STANHOPE: It is irrelevant what the others thought. There was a motion in this place calling on you to table those documents and you refused. I have made a request under the freedom of information provisions seeking those secret documents and you have kept hiding behind this absurd notion of commercial-in-confidence. It is an absurd notion. You have never sought them and you know that the situation is different, but you keep relying on this absurd notion. One does wonder why. That is why I think the public hearing in November when Kevin Neil appears will be very interesting. I will ask Mr Neil why he thinks that the Government is resistant to the tabling of a particular document. I will say, "Mr Neil, in what draft of the user agreement between you and the Government was the commercial-in-confidence or the confidentiality clause included in the contract? In which draft of the contract was this clause included?".

MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Mr Stanhope, you are seeking time to be able to do that. I am not sure that this is the time to ask the questions. You are seeking an extension of time for reporting.

MR STANHOPE: The Government has indicated that it has some concerns about the process. I am simply outlining the process and the importance of it and just giving the Government some indication of what it is that we are proposing to do.

Ms Carnell: We have not said anything. You are moving a motion.

Mr Moore: We have not said a word.

MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Ministers were calling earlier for a decline in the number of interjections. They might follow that rule.

MR STANHOPE: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I think I have made the point. The select committee met two weeks ago after having had a permanent secretary appointed to it. We can understand why the Government is just a touch nervous about all this. We can understand - - -

Ms Carnell: I take a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Nobody on this side of the house has actually said anything about this motion yet. Mr Stanhope is introducing it - - -

MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: The point of order?

Ms Carnell: It is on relevance.

MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes. We are debating an alteration to the reporting date.

Mr Quinlan: You are doing a Gary, Jon.

MR STANHOPE: Is that right? Heaven forbid! I think I have made the point: This is an extremely important inquiry. It will have extremely important outcomes. The committee is working at pace. My colleagues on the committee, Mr Cornwell and Mr Osborne, are very satisfied with the work program that we have established.

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