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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (10 July) . . Page.. 2411 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

fight against them. But we are both adult enough to accept the final view of the people and of this parliament. It is a shame those opposite and the Green do not do likewise.

The strong feeling is that Labor has not only let down the Canberra community by denying supply-and they cannot cop out of that-but also let down many traditional Labor supporters. They are embarrassed by what happened, and they should be. One Labor member has told me that he cannot look forward to his support in this place; he said, "No hope Stanhope." Many of them are not supporters of the SIPs proposal and they will not be voting for Labor at the next ACT election. Let me make it clear. They have told me. In the rush of blood by those opposite and the Green to emulate Napoleon and seize power by any means and at any cost, Labor has left its supporters and its morals way behind it.

That is to say nothing of the expense of bringing this place back for this special sitting or the inconvenience and worry caused to the community.

Mr Berry: You let me come back from a fishing trip, did you?

MR HIRD: I mention a very serious issue. Listen, Mr Berry, because you might learn something. Do not do it again. The first home buyers assistance scheme was introduced around Australia on 1 July, but not in the ACT. Many young people were looking forward to $7,000 under that scheme, but that lot and the Greens voted against it.

Mr Kaine: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. Are we debating the budget again or are we still on the SIP?

MR SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. Continue, Mr Hird.

MR HIRD: When the old war horse over there is finished. I was just starting to like the leader of the Labor Party, Mr Stanhope. He is a very approachable fellow. But I have no doubt that the murmurings in the Labor corridors are true and that there are kinks in the caucus.

I would like to make two predictions. Listen, Mr Kaine. These are two good predictions. The first one is that by October next year, prior to the next election, Labor will have dumped its support for the safe injecting places. The other is that, sadly, we will have yet another leader leading the Labor Party into the election. We on this side will not be in the same position. I would like to congratulate the Chief Minister on the statesmanlike way in which she has dealt with this situation. She has remained cool, calm and collected, and has concentrated on what is the best for the citizens of the territory and got on with the job, not on what is best for her and her party. That is statesmanlike, and she is to be commended. Like Mr Moore, she has acted honourably to arrive at the best solution.

I was interested to hear Ms Tucker say earlier in the debate, "We the Greens did not have an input into the budget." If she doubts this, she might care to look at Hansard. I thought we went through a great ordeal in the committee system prior to the budget. I thought we all had an input into the budget. Ms Tucker went on to say that Mrs Carnell was offered a deal by the Labor and the Greens. I understand that Mrs Carnell did not speak to Ms Tucker. She spoke to the Leader of the Opposition. Ms Tucker is a pseudo-member of the Labor Party. She seems to vote with them all the time.

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