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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 10 Hansard (18 October) . . Page.. 3187 ..

MS TUCKER: There is no minister, but Mr Moore still spoke about his department looking at it the motion.

Mr Moore: I did not say "my department".

MS TUCKER: Mr Moore corrects me. I misunderstood. He is not saying "his department" but "the department".

I did seek to work with Mr Moore on this. Our conversation was acrimonious. I am not prepared to be told to "get stuffed". I will hang up on someone who is aggressive in the way they are dealing with me. I was trying to be professional. Obviously, I irritate Mr Moore, and I am sorry about that. But I did not feel it was necessary to listen to his language. I told Mr Moore before I hung up that I was happy to talk to him.

MR SPEAKER: Is this a personal explanation?

MS TUCKER: No, but it will do. I do not mind what it is, but I offered Mr Moore the opportunity to speak again when he felt calm. He has not responded since then. So I assume he does not want to cooperate. Hopefully, in a minute we will have the debate about why we need this inquiry, about the health complaints commissioner and so on.

As I understand it, the majority of members in this house are very supportive of this inquiry, because there have been very strong and clear arguments from a broad range of people involved with disabilities in the ACT. This is not some whim. This is the result of a lot of work in the Assembly with the community. The terms of reference have been developed by several people with legal expertise, a broad spectrum of people who are involved in the sector as clients, people with disabilities, parents, guardians, carers, and legal professionals who have worked with advocacy agencies and other service providers. There has been a lot of interest in this.

Mr Moore could have worked with us. He chose not to. I am-and I believe Mr Rugendyke, Mr Wood and Mr Kaine are also-very confident about the terms of reference and the need for this inquiry to start now rather than later. There are still things about the service that we are getting calls from the electorate about. This is a matter of people's lives in a service that is seriously flawed in ways that are having a serious impact on people with a disability. To say it does not matter for another month while Mr Moore tries to whiteant the terms of reference-

Mr Kaine: The former minister.

MS TUCKER: The former minister. He is not acknowledging the urgency that is felt in the community about the need for this inquiry.

Question resolved in the affirmative, with the concurrence of an absolute majority.

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