Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (8 March) . . Page.. 708 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: Good question. In Belconnen presumably Mr Stanhope will lead the Labor Party ticket. Under Labor Party rules, I understand women have to have one of each two winnable positions on a ticket, so presumably a woman would have to take the No. 2 spot in Belconnen. Is Mr Berry going to be No. 3 candidate in Belconnen? How does the ad go? "I'd like to see that". In Molonglo, are we going to see you or Mr Corbell take a back seat for a woman, Mr Quinlan?

Mr Quinlan: What ticket are we talking about, Mr Humphries?

MR HUMPHRIES: The Labor Party ticket.

Mr Quinlan: We do not have tickets, do we?

MR HUMPHRIES: You certainly do. Even since Hare-Clark with Robson rotation has been in place you have had very clear tickets.

Ms Carnell: And you have advertised in the Canberra Times and all sorts of places.

MR HUMPHRIES: That is right. You have said, "Here are our candidates". And - surprise, surprise - they appear in a certain order in your publications. Perhaps Mr Stanhope is going to step aside in favour of a female candidate, or Mr Berry might be the - - -

Mr Stanhope: I do not have a branch of my party moving to expel me to get you into the leadership, Mr Humphries.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Stanhope, if what I hear has any validity, you do have a branch, and it is called the parliamentary Labor Party. That is the branch you have to watch out for, Mr Stanhope.

Mr Stanhope: You have a third of your membership debating the expulsion of your leader. Yet you come in here and lecture us about preselection.

MR HUMPHRIES: At least we talk about these things out in the open.

Mr Stanhope: One-third of your membership is trying to expel your leader. Why would your membership want to expel your leader from the party?

MR HUMPHRIES: I can understand why Mr Stanhope would be shouting over us in the circumstances. I can understand why he would be getting a bit testy about this subject and shouting down his opponents on this. I am pretty confident that after tomorrow there will be a woman leader of the Liberal Party in the ACT. I can say with even greater certainty - - -

Mr Stanhope: How will the new preselection rules get up at your meeting, Bill?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I am having great difficulty in hearing myself.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .