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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 9 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 2691 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

he information in those letters I had forgotten about, but I am pleased that the matter has been refreshed to my memory, and I am glad members can see the full correspondence on the floor of the Assembly.

As Mr Stanhope indicated, I put out a press release yesterday headed "Stanhope hypocrite" in which I said, in the paragraph he took most offence to:

As Leader of the Opposition before the election, Jon Stanhope wrote to me as Chief Minister saying that the ACT Government should make an immediate payment to the complainant involved and that the Government should not appeal against the decision to award compensation of more than $223,000.

In the last few weeks before the ACT election of 2001, I was confronted with advice which suggested that the award made by His Honour in the Supreme Court was not well based on the evidence which had been placed before the court and that there was a basis for taking an appeal against that decision. I was also aware from the advice that was given to me that the plaintiff in that matter, Mrs Brown, was not only seriously ill but in fact dying of cancer.

Because this matter occurred in the last few days before the ACT election, it occurred in the caretaker period. I believed, and I believe I had advice to the effect, that there was a requirement for me to consult with the leader of the alternative government in the territory before a significant payment was made by the territory. I regarded a payment of $223,000 or so as being a significant payment. Therefore, in light of the letter I received from Mr Stanhope, I decided to seek his advice.

Mr Stanhope has tabled the letter of 12 October. He claims this letter was not justification for the claim made in my press release of yesterday that Jon Stanhope wrote to me saying that the ACT government should make an immediate payment to the complainant involved. The words that Mr Stanhope used in that letter are the words he has already quoted, and I repeat them:

Could you please advise me, as a matter of urgency, what action you have taken to arrange payment or part-payment of the monies awarded to Mrs Brown.

I take that as being a call to me to make that payment. I take that as a request, a demand, an insistence or an urging-whatever you want to say-to me to make the payment. If Mr Stanhope had not believed that a payment was appropriate, he might have written to me saying, "Could you please advise me whether you intend to make a payment. Could you please advise me whether you think there is a good basis for making a payment." Mr Stanhope did not say that.

Mr Stanhope: The court had already decided, Mr Humphries.

MR HUMPHRIES: Maybe so. Mr Stanhope said:

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