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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 163 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

would use to describe Peter Beattie's approach to Canberra, as evidenced by this press release. Again, I quote from the press release of the Queensland Premier of 3 January:

Mr Speaker, it does not sound to me as if the Prime Minister is the only person who may have had a little bit of lack of confidence in Canberra, the national capital, to host this meeting. I think that this motion, in having a go at the Liberal Prime Minister of Australia and omitting strangely the cooperation of the Labor Premier of Queensland, betrays that the motion is not entirely about doing the best for Canberra, but is also about having a go at the Liberal Party, particularly federally.

MR SMYTH (Minister for Urban Services) (12.01): Mr Speaker, I will add a few words as well. It is interesting to compare the different styles of the Opposition and the crossbench. Mr Kaine has been condemned for attempting to be constructive. I hope that Hansard records the excellent response from Mr Kaine that he is a lover, not a fighter, to which Mr Stanhope admitted that he was unable to respond. Why was he unable to respond to it? It was because it was constructive.

What have we seen from Labor over the last five years? At every turn they have tried to undo everything that this Government, in particular, has done to build up Canberra. I am sorry that I do not have with me the list that I started to write down during the 1998 campaign of words that people were saying about the ACT Labor Party - that they whinge and whine, carp, carry on, grizzle, beef, grouse and complain. The words just went on and on.

If Mr Stanhope got out into the community a little more, he would understand that what Mr Kaine is saying is an opinion that was being expressed there. For instance, at a Tuggeranong Community Council meeting a week or two ago it was suggested that the council write to Mr Howard asking for a similar explanation. The difference between the Opposition and the crossbench is that Mr Kaine is actually reflecting what the community wants, whereas Mr Stanhope just lives in splendid isolation, as always. He does not know what he is talking about. The Opposition cannot appreciate that the people of Canberra want something constructive. They want to get on with the job of building up Canberra, as the Carnell Liberal Government has been doing. It is very important that we take the opportunity where we can to be constructive. What we have from Mr Kaine is his request, very neatly dovetailing with Mrs Carnell's amendment, that we put forward constructive suggestions to the Federal Government, whereas the words that Mr Stanhope has used do not.

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