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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 12 Hansard (24 November) . . Page.. 3599 ..
MR HUMPHRIES: Okay, I will quote a few bits. You can quote from elsewhere if you wish, but I will quote the parts of the report that are quite explicit on that subject. We have already had a number of people quote the direct findings of the coroner on Mrs Carnell's responsibility and I will quote it again:
No-one can seriously attribute to Mrs Kate Carnell MLA, the Chief Minister for the ACT, personally or directly, any responsibility for or contribution to the death of Katie Bender. The evidence simply does not support such a conclusion being drawn or reached.
Mr Moore: Mr Stanhope conceded that himself.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Stanhope himself conceded that that was the case. The coroner goes on to talk about that on a number of other occasions and to specifically refute allegations that were made in the course of the inquest about how the Chief Minister had played some role in terms of manipulation of the timing of the event or manipulation - - -
Mr Berry: She did.
MR HUMPHRIES: The coroner finds otherwise, Mr Berry. You might think you know better. Perhaps you had evidence you should have put to the inquest, but the coroner finds otherwise.
Mr Speaker, there is the timing of the thing, for example. Mr Berry says, "Yes, she did move the thing; she did agitate for it to be moved to suit her own timing". Mr Speaker, the coroner was again quite explicit on that subject. I again quote the coroner:
It was suggested that the final date and the time of implosion needed to be adjusted to meet the personal convenience of the Chief Minister. It was argued this reflected some form of control. The truth of the matter is that the changing of the date was wholly inconvenient to the Chief Minister as she had planned to be absent from Canberra on a holiday on Sunday 13 July 1997 and which she had been planning for quite some time. Mrs Carnell was going to the Southern Highlands for a few days. Mrs Carnell was not consulted about the change of date until after the decision had been made to move the date. She was expected to fit into the revised program. Any suggestion that this was a Kate Carnell stunt or staged event for her convenience as some form of political grandstanding is not supported on the evidence.
That finding is terribly tragic, I am afraid, isn't it? It does not fit in with the rhetoric we have heard about this whole thing from the Opposition, but that is what the coroner has found. What did he say about Mr Kaine, however? They are indirect comments because Mr Kaine, of course, did not appear before the inquest. I again quote the coroner:
The Minister assuming responsibility for the project was the Chief Minister. It is my assessment on the evidence that this was a sensible
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