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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 5 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1290 ..

MR SPEAKER: I did not want you to leave out of the debate anything that you might otherwise include. I would not like you to think that I acquiesced to a proposition that you not speak on a motion before the house.

MR HUMPHRIES: I rose to speak on this motion as soon as Mr Hargreaves sat down. You chose to call on Ms Dundas to speak next, to move her amendment. You then called on Ms Tucker to speak, and Ms Tucker chose not to speak on the amendment. In the same spirit, I am rising to speak on the substantive motion as well.

MR SPEAKER: The point I raise now is that the question before the house is the amendment, not the substantive motion. You cannot speak-

MR HUMPHRIES: I wish to speak on the substantive motion. I will sit down and wait until it is appropriate.

MR SPEAKER: Do not throw away your chance to speak to the substantive motion. Once you have spoken, as you have now, you will have to seek leave to speak again, in due course-other than to the amendment which we anticipate Ms Tucker will put before the chamber.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, you have advised me that I cannot now speak on the substantive motion unless I also speak to the amendment. I do not wish to speak to the amendment.

MR SPEAKER: No. I am not telling you that you cannot. I am saying to you that you cannot avoid speaking to the question that is before the house, if you want to speak now.

MR HUMPHRIES: I do not wish to speak to the amendment. I wish to hear Mr Stanhope's views about the amendment before I speak to that matter. Therefore, I cannot speak on the amendment at this stage. I do not know whether I will support the amendment or not until I have heard Mr Stanhope speak on it.

MR SPEAKER: Perhaps you should have waited until Mr Stanhope spoke.

MR HUMPHRIES: With great respect, Mr Speaker, you called Ms Tucker, who did not speak to the amendment either. In a similar spirit, I rose to speak in the same vein as Ms Tucker. I wonder why you did not take the point in relation to Ms Tucker that you have taken in relation to me.

MR SPEAKER: Going back to Ms Tucker's position, I do not recall Ms Tucker saying that she was not going to speak to the amendment.

Ms Tucker: No, I did not say that.

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