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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (10 July) . . Page.. 2403 ..

MR SPEAKER: "Two tongues". I have not heard-

Mr Berry: Okay, leave it there then. We will all have a go afterwards.

MR SPEAKER: If Mr Stanhope wishes that to be withdrawn-

Mr Berry: I am a member of this place and I am entitled to raise it as an issue.

MR SPEAKER: Yes, but I think it was addressed to Mr Stanhope. You might like-

MR MOORE: I will take your ruling on it, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: All right. Well, you might like to withdraw it, I suppose, if you do not mind, Mr Moore. I think the point is made.

MR MOORE: I withdraw it. Mr Speaker, it seems to me that when the Labor Party came into this place knowing exactly what it meant to oppose the budget, and to oppose first the health line and then this line in the budget, they knew the game they were playing. They knew it clearly, and still they persisted down this path. Perhaps it was a surprise when Mr Osborne voted to turn over the budget. He and Mr Rugendyke also played the game of blocking the budget over one issue. It is clear to me that the same game can be played in so many different ways in this chamber.

Mr Speaker, the one thing I learnt in the First Assembly, and I hope others learnt it in that First Assembly, was that when games are played the outcome is always appalling. I think that is the issue that we have before us here, Mr Speaker, and it is time for the games to stop.

Mr Berry: What a pathetic response. Mr Speaker, I want to start off on the issue of commitment.

MR SPEAKER: Do you want to start now, or would you like to suspend for lunch, Mr Berry?

Mr Berry: I am happy to go to lunch. I need a little bit of carbohydrate to get into this.

MR SPEAKER: I think it might be more convenient if we suspended at this point.

MS TUCKER (2.30): Mr Speaker, this debate is in a formal sense about postponing the commencement of the supervised injecting place and about passing the Appropriation Bill. But the events of the last two weeks have changed this debate into one about the link between budgets and confidence in the government, the stability of the Assembly, the role and influence of the crossbench, and how members negotiate with each other to achieve outcomes.

I and the Labor Party have been criticised by the government and others for not automatically supporting the budget according to the Westminster tradition. If we had, the budget would now be in place and the crisis we are having would never have

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