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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2573 ..
MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):
I have heard the criticism about this bill coming forward for debate very late. I remind members of the request of members to clarify what it was that SOCOG actually required of the ACT and the difficulty I have had in obtaining from SOCOG, including the SOCOG minister, Mr Knight, a clear indication of SOCOG's requirements. In fact, to this day I have not had a clear indication from the SOCOG minister of what is required.
I would point out that members expressed considerable concern about these matters, necessitating further discussion and consultations with Olympic security operators in Sydney. Also, I remind members that when this matter was last put down for debate in the Assembly, in the June sittings, there were a number of intervening matters in the course of that sitting fortnight, including the deliberation on and non-passing of the government's budget at the time, which I think members would agree was of a higher order of priority than the Olympic Events Security Bill.
I would like to have seen this bill dealt with some time ago, but if members had been a little clearer about their intentions to support it and had indicated that they would agree to support it, it would have been easier to deal with the bill on that basis.
Mr Stanhope: It would have been easier if you had answered my letter.
MR HUMPHRIES: I will come to that point now, Mr Stanhope. I did not catch the dates for which Mr Stanhope said that he had unanswered correspondence. I do have on my file here a letter from Mr Stanhope dated 28 January in which he said:
... I wrote to you expressing some concerns that I had with aspects of the Olympic Events Security Bill 1999. To date, I have had no reply to my letter.
I would like to table a copy of a reply which I wrote to Mr Stanhope on 16 February, less than a month after he wrote to me. I will quote the first two paragraphs of my letter:
I refer to your letter dated 28 January 2000 seeking a reply to your earlier letter dated 23 April 1999 concerning the Olympic Events Security Bill 1999.
My letter to you dated 3 June 1999 was in reply to your earlier letter. While I took the opportunity to raise a number of issues likely to arise at the June 1999 meeting of the Australian Police Ministers Council, I also addressed issues relating to the Olympic Events Security Bill 1999 that you raised in your earlier letter. A copy of that letter is attached.
I went on to discuss a number of matters relating to clarifying what it was that SOCOG was requiring of us in the ACT. I table the following documents:
Olympic Events Security Bill 1999-
Letter from Mr Stanhope MLA (Leader of the Opposition) to Mr Gary Humphries MLA (Attorney-General), dated 28 January.
Copy of letter from Gary Humphries MLA, Minister for Justice and Community Safety, to Mr Jon Stanhope MLA, Leader of the Opposition, dated 16 February 2000.
Mr Stanhope: Table the other matters you referred to in relation to the Police Ministers Council. Just let me know how much they clarified the issue. It was derisory.
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