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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 13 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4299 ..

Ms Tucker: Totally different. You had a chance to stop that. We did not have to do that. You had the opportunity to deal with that at the time.

MR HUMPHRIES: It is not totally different. In both cases people's rights were being retrospectively affected. I said to myself at the time, "Well, at least, if they are prepared to re-criminalise an act retrospectively, they can hardly complain about civilly adversing somebody's position retrospectively". It appears that I was wrong in that assumption. Nonetheless, Mr Speaker, there is at stake in this decision close to $6m in payments otherwise that would be made by the Territory. I ask members to consider what better use that $6m would be put to in the ACT than the proposal that is presently before the chamber.

MR BERRY (4.08 am): Mr Humphries referred to an earlier matter where retrospectivity was decided by this chamber. It was only because of your incompetence, Mr Humphries, that we had to go down that path. There was no other reason, and we were proven to have taken the right course. I know you are still stinging from that because it was an unhappy affair for you. It was embarrassing for you to be exposed full Monty as an incompetent Attorney-General out there in the community. But, Mr Humphries, it is too late. It is done. It was a good idea. It was endorsed by the chamber, and widely accepted. You were outed as an incompetent. It is no good bleating about it. It is all over.

Question put:

The Assembly voted -

AYES, 7  	NOES, 8

Mr Berry 	Ms Carnell
Mr Corbell 	Mr Cornwell
Mr Hargreaves  	Mr Humphries
Mr Kaine 	Mr Moore
Mr Quinlan 	Mr Osborne
Mr Stanhope 	Mr Rugendyke
Ms Tucker 	Mr Smyth
		Mr Stefaniak

Question so resolved in the negative.

Amendment negatived.

MR HUMPHRIES (Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety) (4.12 am): Mr Speaker, I move amendment No.3 circulated in my name. It is simply the follow on from amendment No. 2 in my name and it reads as follows:

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