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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 4 Hansard (27 March) . . Page.. 946 ..
Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: since Mr Berry got to his feet to make an explanation, the Chief Minister has three times got to his feet to interrupt him. You interrupted him once. The leader of government business has interrupted him once. You only earlier today were making comments about stopping ministers from answering questions by interjections. It must also apply the other way, surely.
MR SPEAKER: We have had this problem before with personal explanations. If members would stand and say where they had been misunderstood, we could get on with it, but we have far too many attempts at reading matters into Hansard. I want Mr Berry to explain to me where he has been misrepresented.
MR BERRY: Because I was selectively quoted. I will give you the full letter and it will become clear to you. The letter reads:
Crispin Hull's "Poll position clears track for women" (Canberra Times March 22) is an exercise in self-delusion. It needs nothing more than to point to the history of ACT Self Government with its changes in electoral systems and the consequent reductions in female representation to prove the point that the Hare Clarke system has been unkind to the prospects of female candidates.
That is what I said.
Mr Humphries: That is right. That is what I quoted.
MR BERRY: No, you did not quote it all. It reads:
Crispin has never hidden his preference for a small 'l' Liberal government over a Labor one and most pundits agree that the ACT Hare Clarke system is the best system to deliver this outcome. History again has proven this correct.
Once again Crispin resorted to his chipped crystal ball to determine my views on the system. I just wish that he would get a new one which has my telephone number in it so he could find out from me that I don't say much about electoral matters anymore because I am not Labor spokesperson nor Leader as I was when Crispin last heard me speak on the subject.
This was about some criticism that he made because I was being quiet on the subject.
MR SPEAKER: Get to the point.
MR BERRY: The letter continues:
Mind you if he had asked I would still say that above the line voting (as in Senate elections) and how to vote cards are better for female party aspirants ...
Mr Humphries did not want to say that, because that is the truth.
MR SPEAKER: You could have truncated your statement, Mr Berry, by simply reading that last paragraph.
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