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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 2 Hansard (1 March) . . Page.. 453 ..

MR SPEAKER: Do you claim to have been misrepresented?

MR QUINLAN: I do, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Proceed.

MR QUINLAN: In the course of answering questions, I think the Treasurer and the Chief Minister stated that I had washed my hands of the expressions of interest. Let me put the case right. My committee received a presentation by three gentlemen, Mr Lilley, Mr Mackay and a fellow from ABN AMRO. No names, no paper can be given out. We had about 29 or 30 firms with up to five or six options each. We were quite happy to receive that particular presentation. The committee thanked its presenters but expressed the hope that the presenters did not consider that this presentation in any way removed the responsibility of government to bring the findings and evaluation of the expressions of interest to the Assembly. It appeared to us that they were fairly cursory at that stage. I suspected at the time that the presentation was a ploy to allow the Government to sit there and say exactly what it is saying now.

MR SPEAKER: Order! This is beyond the realms of a personal explanation.

MR QUINLAN: Mr Speaker, this is a dishonest representation of what occurred, and it needs to be explained.

MR SPEAKER: You are here to make a personal explanation, Mr Quinlan. That is perfectly acceptable, but you cannot debate the issue or attack the Government. Just explain the situation.

MR QUINLAN: I am, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Until just now you were going fine.

MR QUINLAN: The committee, of which you, Mr Speaker, and Mr Kaine are members, decided unanimously that we ought to advise the Government that it still has a responsibility to bring the evaluation of those expressions of interest to the Assembly. Since that time, I have asked several times in this place about those expressions of interest. I was told that they were going to be evaluated with the Great Southern Energy proposal. I was told that they were coming. What we have received so far is four flimsy pages.

I was thoroughly misrepresented. I have not washed my hands of this issue at all. I merely advised that you cannot take something to a committee and claim that you have advised the members of the Assembly, because you did not. I think that fits under the heading of hypocrisy - the word of the afternoon.

MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, under standing order 46, I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

MR SPEAKER: Do you claim to have been misrepresented?

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