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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 2 Hansard (28 February) . . Page.. 393 ..
MR HUMPHRIES: Did not have a camera on you at the time, Mr Stanhope? That is good advice. You were asked:
Have you looked at how you might fund an increase in police numbers?
You replied:
I haven't looked at that yet, but there are some areas here in relation to which the Labor Party will certainly make a commitment. We will reverse this appalling trend in relation to education.
That sounds like a promise to spend more money to me, to put more money into policing and more money into education.
On top of that, we have the promise from Mr Quinlan to fund more in the way of superannuation. The government's provision for superannuation was inadequate, he told us; there is not enough money in superannuation. So what is the Labor Party going to do about it? Presumably spend more. But how much more? We do not yet know. It sounds like a promise to me.
Mr Quinlan: Get a draft budget out, mate. Where is this draft budget?
MR SPEAKER: Order! I warn you, Mr Quinlan.
Mr Quinlan: Talk about truth. Where is the draft budget?
MR SPEAKER: Careful. I warned you.
MR HUMPHRIES: It looks like a promise; it walks like a promise; it talks like a promise. It is a promise. Of course, we had Mr Rebikoff's promise on behalf of the Labor Party on Saturday that there would be extra funding for multicultural broadcasting.
We know what happens to parties when they promise beyond their capacity to spend. We know what happened with the fiasco over "Working Capital". We know you cannot afford to make promises you do not deliver on.
I invite Mr Stanhope to use his entitlement under standing order 48 to explain to us whether he was saying the truth when on the radio this morning he said that no promises had been made by the Labor Party to date or whether he was telling us the truth when he made promises on Chris Ullman's program on 31 January. Which is truthful? One thing we do know: they cannot both be the truth.
Mr Berry: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: if Mr Humphries is talking about a means by which he might extract the truth he should refer to his false promise to give free bus travel to school children.
MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Mr Berry: That was a big fat one.
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