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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (31 August) . . Page.. 2727 ..

Mr Stanhope: It was reported in the newspapers.

MR HUMPHRIES: Okay. Which one was it? I must not have read the newspaper that day.

Mr Berry: I will say it on the record, Gary. Just wait.

MR HUMPHRIES: Again, this is the situation. People who are prepared to say these things quietly, without going public about them-

Mr Quinlan: He says he is waiting for you to sit down.

Mr Berry: I am waiting for you to sit down, then I will put it on the record.

MR HUMPHRIES: Why won't you tell me now, so I can respond?

MR SPEAKER: Order! It will not happen now. I will not take any more interjections.

Mr Berry: Well done.

MR SPEAKER: If you wish to debate this, get on your feet and do it.

MR HUMPHRIES: Members obviously have a great reluctance to go on the record about these things, and I am not surprised because I believe these assertions are without foundation. I am certain that no minister in this government has made those sorts of threats. I am quite confident that no public servants have made these sorts of threats on behalf of the government. I look forward to Mr Berry, or somebody, naming which organisations have actually been so threatened.

Mr Speaker, I stand by the assertion that the government is not in that business.

Mr Quinlan: Many of those people do not want to be named because they fear the retribution. It is circular, Mr Humphries.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Quinlan, stop interjecting please. It is a matter of put up or shut up, frankly.

MR HUMPHRIES: The fact is that you people put your hands on your hearts and say, "This is a terrible thing to have happen." The fact is that it has happened when you were in office.

Mr Quinlan: Read it.

MR HUMPHRIES: I have read it, Mr Quinlan. Have you noticed what has been said about what happened when you were in office? Apparently not, because you fall silent on the subject.

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