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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3776 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (Chief Minister, Minister for Community Affairs, Attorney - General and Treasurer) (4.25): Mr Berry tells us that this is a straightforward motion and that it is self - explanatory. It speaks for itself, he says, and there shouldn't be much debate before passing it. Those words are an acknowledgment that it is none of those things. This motion does require debate because it is obscure and does not address the issue that Mr Berry apparently wants to get to.

Mr Berry has raised issues about loss of jobs at Totalcare, and he has raised issues about governments moving on issues without adequate consultation. These are reasonable issues to debate. It is appropriate to have a debate about those things if Mr Berry wants to do that, but those are not the things that are reflected in his motion.

This motion seeks to do something entirely different. It says that the Assembly should not permit the government - it doesn't just recommend, it requires - to move any assets, activities or services to Totalcare without the prior approval of the Assembly. What exactly is Mr Berry concerned about? Is Mr Berry concerned about us being intending to privatise Totalcare, or parts of Totalcare?

Mr Berry: No, no. Don't try to muddy the waters, Gary.

MR HUMPHRIES: Well, if he is not concerned about that, Mr Deputy Speaker, and of course he should -

Mr Berry: I am concerned about that, but not in relation to this motion.

MR HUMPHRIES: Well, he is concerned about it, he says. He is concerned about the government privatising Totalcare, or parts of Totalcare. Let me put on the record first of all that the government has no plans or intentions to privatise Totalcare. Even if it had such plans or intentions, Mr Deputy Speaker, as we know, the government cannot do that without coming back to this Assembly.

Mr Corbell: Legislation that you opposed, actually, at the time.

MR HUMPHRIES: Irrespective of whether we opposed it or not, it is now the law of the territory and we have not indicated any reluctance whatever to comply with that law. We know that it is the law; we will comply with it. So what is the point? It seems to be preventing the government taking any steps which might ultimately contribute to the provision of a motion on the floor of this place to privatise Totalcare.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I listened to Mr Berry's speech carefully and I did not understand what he was getting at. I suspect that other members of this place are equally mystified. I think we need to make sure that we have a clear explanation of what it is that Mr Berry is trying to do. If Mr Berry is saying, "We think the government is up to some kind of nefarious trick. It's got some devious plans, cunning plans, worked out for Totalcare which it is not telling us about. We want to head it off at the pass by putting in place this motion," I would say to the Assembly that there ought to be some evidence put before the Assembly by Mr Berry to indicate what those plans are supposed to be.

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