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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (28 June) . . Page.. 2173 ..
MR QUINLAN
: Mr Speaker, I now seek leave to speak to the amended motion.Leave granted.
MR QUINLAN
: I do not intend to speak for a great length of time, but, given that this motion has now evolved into what it is, I want to pick up some of the things that Ms Tucker said this morning. The quotations that she read into Hansard in relation to the findings of the Finance and Public Administration Committee and the relationships between government and some community organisations come from a report in which I was involved. I do want to communicate to the Assembly that perception becomes reality in these cases. There is, out there, a genuine concern that community organisations will be adversely treated if they do not toe the line. In order to produce this report, and in order for quite a number of community organisations to appear before this committee, it was necessary to hold in camera hearings. We took no initiative in this. We were asked to hold in camera hearings so that quite a number of community organisations could come to us and voice their concerns.A fair bit has been said as this debate has meandered today. We have not yet debated the government's response to this report even though it has been tabled. It has been on the notice paper for quite some time. I just wanted to place on record for this Assembly the fact that there are quite a number of organisations out there, sufficient, I would contend, to believe there is some base for it, that have genuine concern that unless they toe the line in one way or another they will be penalised and their funding will be withdrawn.
Mr Humphries
: Which ones?Ms Carnell
: Name one.MR QUINLAN
: I can't because they asked not to be named. That is the whole point.Ms Carnell
: So did anybody give you any evidence, please, off the record? Tell us.MR QUINLAN: They came and made the assertions. They do not want me to convey the evidence to you. They do not want to be named to you. That is the point I am making. Thank you, Mr Speaker.
MR HUMPHRIES
(Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety): I seek leave to speak again.Leave granted.
MR HUMPHRIES
: I do not want to respond to Mr Quinlan's comments except to say that I think evidence should be produced. Assertions should not be made without being backed up.In the course of earlier debate I think I may have suggested that the effect of my amendment would not be that there should be an insertion into the report itself of the words that are quoted in that amendment. That, of course, is not the case. In other words, there ought to be an assertion in the report itself. I am not sure whether I conveyed the
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