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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 9 Hansard (5 September) . . Page.. 2867 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

Mr Speaker, to come back to the point: last week I was asked whether I thought it would come down this week. I said that to my knowledge final drafts had not been provided. To my knowledge, they have not been. Mr Speaker, I suggested that that meant that it would not come down this week. I was right, Mr Speaker; it will not be coming down this week. I do not know whether further drafts will actually go to CMD.

MR HIRD: It is going to be a great day today, Mr Speaker. The Olympic torch will be upon us within the hour. Isn't that great?

Mr Berry: Just say yes, Mr Speaker.

MR HIRD: Mr Berry, you should join me in celebrating the fact that the Olympic torch will be coming across our border today.

MR SPEAKER: Order, please! I know that you are all excited.

Mr Berry: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. He asked you a question: "Isn't that great?" All you have to do is to say yes and we can dispose of his question.

MR SPEAKER: I know you are all excited about the Olympics.

MR HIRD: I notice that you are wearing a soccer badge, Mr Berry. Good on you! It is about time you got behind Bruce Stadium; it is nice to see.

MR SPEAKER: If there were an event in the Olympics for talking, Mr Hird, most of you would win gold medals. Ask your question, please.

MR HIRD: I wish you were an umpire, sir. Mr Speaker, my question is to the Treasurer, Mr Humphries. I heard some curious comments last week from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition about the appointment of a probity adviser for the territory. Is it usual for the government to adopt such an adviser from the private sector or is it, as Mr Quinlan suggested, privatisation gone mad?

MR HUMPHRIES: I thank Mr Hird for the question, although I think that the expression "curious comments from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition" is a bit of a redundancy, Mr Hird, so you should avoid saying that next time. I did hear the comments and I saw the release of Mr Quinlan. I was struck by the obvious lack of research that Mr Quinlan undertook before issuing the statement.

Mr Speaker, the statement is headed "Privatisation gone mad-Probity on demand", and contains statements such as: "This is a case of a privatisation mad government taking this agenda to the extreme." It goes on to criticise the proposals that the government announced last week. Mr Speaker, the government announced last week the appointment of PriceWaterhouseCoopers as the ACT government's probity adviser. The firm was selected from a large number of eminent companies at work in this country who tendered for that position and for the role of providing high-level probity services to the ACT government on an as needs basis.

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