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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 10 Hansard (18 October) . . Page.. 3153 ..

Mr Moore: It is not on the program, Mr Speaker. He did not seek leave and I have moved that the question be put.

Mr Humphries: You agreed that-

MR BERRY: No, I did not. I wrote you a letter and told you that there were-

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, it is within your discretion to allow me to speak on this matter.

MR SPEAKER: You can only speak as to why you wish to bring the bills forward.

MR BERRY: Indeed, that is what I want to do. Mr Speaker, this motion relates to two pieces of legislation, the effect of which will be lost on 4 November if the Assembly does not agree to extend the period in which a prosecution may be brought before the courts. This Assembly has previously endorsed an extension which the government opposed. If we do not act today to again extend the period we will be faced with the prospect of having to do so retrospectively on 28 November. Therefore, it makes sense to deal with this today.

Mr Speaker, this debate is an old one and it would not take long to put it again. Members all understand the issues, which are about being timely in dealing with the matter. That is why the standing orders ought to be suspended.

MR HUMPHRIES (Chief Minister) (11.09): Mr Speaker, I oppose the suspension of standing orders, for two simple reasons. First of all, I understand that there was discussion some week or so ago in the Administration and Procedure Committee about business for today. At that time, as I understand it-I was not there, of course-there was no proposal put forward by the Labor Party for this or any other bill to be debated today. In fact, it was the indication of the Labor Party at that meeting that there would be no other private members business dealt with today.

Mr Berry: Other than the no-confidence motion.

MR HUMPHRIES: That has now lapsed because the Chief Minister has resigned. So that may indicate that no other business was to be dealt with today.

Secondly, Mr Speaker, I received a letter from Mr Berry this morning, today, telling me that he wanted to bring on private members business, notwithstanding the earlier indication from the Labor Party. Again, no mention was made of these bills. If the Labor Party had indicated to the government that there was some urgency we would have been able to consider that. But they have not done so. They tend to proceed obviously by way of ambush. In the circumstances, they should fall on their own tactics.

Mr Berry: That was a shocking Gary, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Sit down, Mr Berry.

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