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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 10 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2832 ..

MR QUINLAN: Yes, you certainly can. I will get a clean copy and I will table them today.

MR HARGREAVES: My supplementary question is: can the minister advise whether these figures are accurate, or are these ABS figures something you could drive a Mack truck through?

Mr Cornwell: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. It is against standing orders to seek an expression of opinion.

MR SPEAKER: I think that was a call for an expression of opinion.

MR HARGREAVES: I would like to rephrase the question.

MR SPEAKER: You can try.

MR HARGREAVES: Can the Minister confirm that these figures are accurate, or are they ABS figures you can drive a Mack truck through?

MR QUINLAN: Enough of this. They are ABS figures.

Mrs Dunne: You said they were Treasury figures.

MR QUINLAN: No, I said this was a summary of the ABS figures prepared by Treasury.

Mrs Dunne: You did not.

MR QUINLAN: I did not say "of the ABS figures", no, but they are ABS figures. Let us put them out. What is important out of these figures is that the employment position in the ACT has improved, and has improved on all fronts. We did overhear Mrs Dunne last week make a comment about ABS figures-that you can drive a Mack-

Mrs Dunne: You did not overhear it. I said it directly.

MR QUINLAN: Sensitive little flower, aren't we? Dear oh me! At the risk of being corrected, we overheard Mrs Dunne say that she could drive a truck through ABS figures. In large part, I would agree with Mrs Dunne.

Mrs Dunne: A first.

MR QUINLAN: It is one of those ironies, Mrs Dunne, that you worked for years with Mr Humphries, who, when these figures came out from time to time, attributed all of the positive outcomes, whenever they occurred, to the work of the ACT government. Apparently, Mrs Dunne, you did not believe that. You believed that as these were ABS figures you could have driven a Mack truck through them. Nevertheless, you worked in an office that put out press releases that made direct claims for the credit for changes in employment and attributed all to the work of the ACT government.

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