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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (30 August) . . Page.. 3882 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

Mr Moore is the only one of us to have stated an intention not to contest the election. He is the only one of us we know will not be back, though, as the Chief Minister says, I would not mind betting there may be a couple of others as well. Life is interesting, isn't it?

I think we need to be open and honest about this. It is probably fair to say that the Labor Party and Mr Moore have not had the friendliest of relationships over the last 31/2 years. Those of us on this side of the house do not have the opportunity or the capacity to say, as Mr Humphries has, that when you have Mr Moore behind you you know he is there 100 per cent. Mr Moore has never been behind us over the last 31/2 that I am aware of. It is not very often that he has even been beside us.

Having said that, I acknowledge the significant impact that Mr Moore has had on politics in the ACT over the last 12 years. It goes without saying. I guess if I am to be honest and open about it-and I will be-some of the fairly intense frustration that Mr Moore has induced in me over the last 31/2 years has arisen almost out of a sense of disappointment. I know I will be pilloried by my colleagues for admitting this, but prior to becoming as heavily involved as I did within politics through my preselection and subsequent election, I was quite an admirer of Mr Moore. He was one of the members of this place in its early years that I put on something of a pedestal.

Mr Humphries: Now it comes out.

MR STANHOPE: It does. It is embarrassing almost. It is an irony that I was disappointed by Mr Moore's responses and position in my early days here. The disappointment was greater for having been the admirer I was of Mr Moore in relation to the significant positions and the strength of the positions he took in earlier years on issues quite dear to my heart. I felt frustration and, as I indicated previously, I regret some of the slights and the arrows that I have cast at Mr Moore.

That is by way of background. I do not hesitate to acknowledge the significant contribution of Mr Moore. There is much that he has done and said in the last 31/2 years with which I disagree and some of it with which I disagree quite intensely. But I have no difficulty in wishing Mr Moore all the best for the future. I have no hesitation in acknowledging the significant contribution Mr Moore has made to the body politic and to public life in the ACT.

I wish everyone the best for the election. I wish everybody the best for the future. I look forward to the next term, assuming I am returned. I look forward to working again in this place. I would like to thank everybody who makes this parliament function-all of the staff here. I would like also to thank each of my colleagues. The last 31/2 years have been tough but enjoyable. I have enjoyed them very much. I have enjoyed our caucus. It has been good fun most of the time. I have enjoyed our caucus meetings, which is not something which historically can be said about the Labor Party. It has been 31/2 very good years in caucus.

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