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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (28 June) . . Page.. 2125 ..

MR

SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves has already withdrawn comments that he made here.

Mr

Berry: Mr Speaker, that's not the point.

MR

SPEAKER: It is the point and I am getting very tired of this argument.

Mr

Berry: You may be getting tired of it, Mr Speaker, but I just asked you to rule whether it can anticipate-

MR

SPEAKER: Yes, and I have ruled no. There is your answer. I call Mr Osborne.

MR

OSBORNE (12.01): Mr Speaker, we have been over this a number of times. It is not just the Attorney-General who has had allegations made against him in the report. Mr Hargreaves has apologised to me privately, claiming that I was not the target of the barrage in the report. I accepted that. However, the fact remains that it is still in the report and I would like it withdrawn.

Let us talk about the facts. Senior public servants-in particular Mr Keady on two occasions and Ms Lennon on one-have given detailed evidence to the committee on the background to this. I think some of the facts have got somewhat muddied. If Mr Hargreaves wishes the section to remain in the report, I think he should also add that he considers Tim Keady and Anna Lennon to be liars, because that is effectively what that report says.

I do not want this to drag on, Mr Speaker. We have got a busy couple of days ahead of us. I have accepted Mr Hargreaves' apology but I think his remarks should be withdrawn because I find what he said offensive and not true. Public officials have shown it not to be true. Although this matter has been raised twice, Mr Hargreaves spoke only on the last day. We could talk about this for hours but I think the point has been made.

MS

TUCKER (12.03): I want to talk to the motion and to the amendment. This is a quite difficult matter. I have paid serious regard to a number of issues that have been raised in this debate-that is, what status we give to dissenting reports, the separation between committee work and the Assembly, and the issue of the substance of the dissenting report that has upset people.

First, let us look at the issue of dissenting committee reports. Some parliaments do not have dissenting reports at all. Rather, you can find out whether a member of a committee has a problem with or disagrees with the general direction of the committee by going to the minutes. The ACT Assembly has dissenting reports and I believe that they are useful. The minority view may indeed be the right view in any discussion and therefore the minority view should be allowed to be presented with the committee's report. So, basically I am supportive of the concept of dissenting reports.

I understand that the dissenting report which is the subject of the amendment now before us has offended some members of the Justice and Community Safety Committee. I think Mr Hargreaves could have been more judicious in his use of words, but I defend his right to raise concerns about the particular issue.

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