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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 13 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4285 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: We can excuse people for boorish behaviour in those circumstances.

Mr Stanhope: Well, you have been found out, Attorney.

MR SPEAKER: Settle down.

MR HUMPHRIES: I believe, Mr Speaker, that it is reasonable to have the taxpayers' money justified before being spent by having a medical examination for a person who claims to have been extremely seriously injured before they are able to make a claim before the court.

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition) (3.33 am): The Attorney is embarrassed. The Attorney challenged me to find a reasonable excuse. It is, of course, a reasonable excuse if you say, "Look, I have this condition. I received this condition as a result of an injury. I am sick and tired of going to doctors. I haven't been to 12. I've been to 20. I've been to 20 doctors. Every single time I've been to a - - -

Mr Humphries: "I want government money. I want taxpayers' money, but I won't prove - - -

MR STANHOPE: "I've been to 20 different doctors, the leading specialists in the field in Canberra, every single one of them, and I've demanded a certificate from every one of them, all 20 of them. I come along and make a claim and the Territory says it wants me to go to the doctor again. I say, 'No. Look, I've been to every doctor at the Canberra Hospital. I've been to every one of the visiting medical officers. I'm not going to the doctor again. I've been to 20. No, I've been to 25. I've got 25 certificates. I'm not going again' ". That is a reasonable excuse, Attorney.

Mr Humphries: It is a very implausible excuse.

MR STANHOPE: That is a reasonable excuse.

Mr Humphries: It's a very unlikely excuse.

MR STANHOPE: It may be unlikely but you have to concede that in the circumstances it would be a more than reasonable excuse and it would be an unreasonable demand of the Territory to ask them to go to another doctor. I just use that as an example. There would be a whole range of reasonable excuses. This is one of them.

Mr Humphries: You only found one so far.

MR STANHOPE: I am happy to stay. Shall we talk it through? Shall we keep going? Shall we have a little competition and see how many reasonable excuses we can find? Perhaps we can do that. You laid down the challenge, Attorney, and you are now embarrassed.

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