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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (10 July) . . Page.. 2418 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

days have convinced me on that. I think that they will convince a whole lot of people out there in the community as well.

Mr Speaker, this is going to be a lost opportunity for drug law reform and the loss is being caused by people who claim that they are members of the Parliamentary Group for Drug Law Reform. The first Attorney-General to join that organisation has been the first to attempt to undermine some reasonable outcomes being achieved on that subject.

Mr Speaker, much has been said by the Liberals about the conscience vote on this issue. The Liberals had a conscience vote-we on this side of the house would prefer to call it a convenience vote-to enable them and Mr Moore to put forward this piece of legislation. In recent days we have had Mr Moore saying that he was locked into a cabinet decision, even though drug law reform was one of the 40 issues on which he stood remote from the Liberals, having declared the position to be such.

Mr Speaker, why it is that you insist that "hypocrisy" is a word that cannot be used in this place when the stench of it pervades every nook and cranny in this place leaves me wide-eyed in wonder. At the end of the day, I think you will be forced to give in, Mr Speaker, and use of the word "hypocrisy" will become commonplace.

MR SPEAKER: Its use has been required to be withdrawn ever since the First Assembly, so it is not just my ruling.

MR BERRY: The pressure is growing, Mr Speaker; I think you can tell that. Following the swings and roundabouts, we have ended up with a situation where the conscience vote has been abandoned. I think it was seen by the Liberals as necessary to do so to save their skin.

Much has been said about Labor's position on the budget. Labor's position on the budget was absolutely correct. Those who comment to the contrary on this issue are not credible because, quite clearly, they do not understand the machinery of this place. The Liberals say quite often that they have never opposed a Labor budget. I cannot remember them ever supporting one, either.

Mr Speaker, they have never called a vote. Do you know why they have never called a vote? It is because they have never had the numbers. If the numbers had been there, I can tell you that they would have been a lot more enthusiastic about calling a vote because they know the standard. The standard is that if you lose your budget, you lose your authority to govern and it is then up to the machinery of the self-government act to fall into place and elect another government.

There is nothing unusual about that. That is why the self-government act was set up in that way. If a Chief Minister resigns, the self-government act provides the machinery for the Chief Minister to be replaced. The common tradition where a budget fails is for the Chief Minister to resign.

Mr Humphries: Not in this place, Wayne.

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