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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 6 Hansard (25 May) . . Page.. 1787 ..

Mr Stanhope: Yes, in stunned silence.

MR MOORE: I would ask you to warn Mr Stanhope in particular if he keeps doing this. It was interesting to hear Ms Tucker complete her speech with an almost identical description. She cannot understand why somebody would take that view. I think that is particularly interesting, Mr Speaker, but not as interesting as the premature nature of this motion. We have a situation where a submission is made by a community council, and then somebody appears before a committee and says the things that have been quoted. I must point out, Mr Speaker, that they have been quoted from a draft Hansard, but we still accept the general thrust of what is there.

Mr Stanhope: Desperate, desperate.

MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, we are dealing with a very serious matter. We have Mr Stanhope doing his standard process-

MR SPEAKER: Order! I agree. I uphold the point of order. I want this matter heard in silence, otherwise some people will not be listening for very long.

MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, even as you spoke Mr Stanhope made an interjection and then did what he is doing now. He should be warned. Mr Speaker, this is an extraordinarily serious matter, and it is important to understand that this is premature. When we have a situation where we have a misunderstanding of this kind, where we have a statement made within the committee and then somebody saying, "No, that statement I made was incorrect," why do we not have Mr Corbell saying, "Well, let's recall Mr Gower and get him to clarify in a committee situation what his opinions were"?

What happens in these committee situations? I do not know how many members here can remember appearing before a parliamentary committee as an easy task. In recent times I have appeared before a number of federal parliamentary committees, the last one being about six weeks ago. I can tell you today, as somebody who is as experienced at doing these things as I am and having appeared before federal parliamentary committees on a number of occasions, it is still an extraordinarily nerve-racking experience. I do not think you should underestimate the pressure that somebody comes under when they appear before an Assembly committee. It is a very formal process and it does put a great deal of pressure on people.

That being the case it would seem to me to have been logical for Mr Corbell to say, "I have this particular concern. Look what's going on. Why don't we bring Mr Gower back in here and ask him what is happening?" That would have been the first step and that may well have led to this motion for a privileges committee.

Mr Corbell put to us very succinctly that this is not a motion of innocence or guilt. It just seeks to set up a committee in order to look at what Mr Smyth has done.

Mr Corbell: And what Mr Gower has alleged.

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