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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 4 Hansard (27 March) . . Page.. 906 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

I heard Mr Humphries read out what Mr Berry did, or what the Speaker did then or whatever. I really do not see the relevance of that. What I think we should be focusing on here is how we operate as a parliament now and how we want to operate as a parliament.

Clearly, nobody was happy with what happened on the last sitting Thursday. As much as Mr Moore might like to blame Labor or me, as much as Mr Osborne might like to blame me, and it appears he does, the real issue here is why this happened in the first place. Why did I, as a member of the crossbench who has said that I believe it is important to have the authority of the Speaker respected and clear, on that occasion not support the Speaker? I made it clear at the time that I was not supporting a substantive motion against the Speaker. What I was saying at that time was that I was concerned about the way things were happening on that day and on other days.

Mr Moore: You don't have that choice.

MS TUCKER: I made that clear here.

Mr Humphries: So what is the excuse, Kerrie?

MS TUCKER: What has happened since then, of course, is this problem. Because Mr Osborne was not here that meant that the vote went down.

Mr Humphries: You exploited that fact, didn't you.

MS TUCKER: Mr Humphries interjects that I supported that vote. Yes.

Mr Humphries: Exploited that fact.

MS TUCKER: Yes, I supported that vote. Of course I did.

MR SPEAKER: Order, please! I do not want any interjections.

MS TUCKER: Well, can I draw attention to the fact that there are interjections?

MR SPEAKER: I don't like interjections.

MS TUCKER: I don't interject. I don't know why I do not have the right just to make this speech. I mean, this is what we are talking about, isn't it? Mr Moore says the level of interjection is so offensive to him, but, as someone on the crossbench who rarely interjects, I can tell you that I feel the interjections from that side of the house just as much. Sure, you could say that that is because Labor does not disagree with me so often; but there is the argument. People in this place choose to interject when they do not like what someone is saying, and that is the way things work in this place on the whole. I do not think Mr Osborne interjects that much, or Mr Kaine either. As for Mr Rugendyke, I am not sure that I have noticed. Basically, it is mainly between the major parties that you see the very consistent interjections going on.

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