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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 4 Hansard (28 March) . . Page.. 1069 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

I apologise, members. I am going to get that fixed; I am the minister. CTEC will do what the parliament demands. I will fix it." Two weeks later, he said, "Dear members, get stuffed," and that was it. We are here today to censure the minister for misleading the Assembly in the wilful and deliberate way that obviously he has.

When he spoke to us on 1 March and apologised for the fact that CTEC had not complied with the direction, did he intend at that stage that they comply with the direction? Was there a wilful misleading or at that stage had he genuinely directed CTEC? Did somebody at CTEC say, "Oh, no, Minister, you have got it wrong. We are not doing that, Minister. You might have promised the Assembly, you might have come back into the Assembly and made a statement, but we are not doing that, Minister. We decide what gets tabled. We decide what the members of the Assembly will see?" Is that what happened? Who made the decision?

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will address the chair. This is a serious matter. Address the chair. Do not bait the government. Talk to the chair.

MR STANHOPE: I beg your pardon, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker!

Mr Kaine: He was addressing you, I thought.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: I stand corrected.

MR STANHOPE: I take a point of order. I take serious exception to that interjection by you, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker. It was completely out of order and completely uncalled for.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: I apologise to the Leader of the Opposition.

MR STANHOPE: I cannot believe that. Are you worried about your seat in Ginninderra, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker?

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition will address the chair on the matter before it. I thank you for your concern for my wellbeing in the political arena.

MR STANHOPE: I have noticed the campaign that is being run against you. That is the situation we have here and that is the crux issue. It is quite clear that the minister has misled the Assembly and he should be censured for doing so. He has never sought to explain. He has not apologised for the fact that he has gone back on his word. He has not sought at any stage to explain or apologise for reneging on the statements he made in this place. That deals with the first point.

I want to touch very briefly on the issue of conflict of interest. I say as a bit of an aside in a way that I share some of the concerns that have been expressed by members all round this place about the need not to injure anybody's reputation by speaking loosely and making all sorts of innuendoes or overt suggestions. I am not going to do that. I have no reason to believe, and do not believe, that anybody who has been associated with this issue has acted in other than the most professional way and with utmost propriety at all

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