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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 3 Hansard (13 March) . . Page.. 1014 ..
MS TUCKER
(continuing):infant and so on. I am fine with people breastfeeding children till they are four. I know someone who breastfed their child till four. That is fine. If the government and everyone else is happy with that, that is fine. If we are creating a standing order that says a breastfeeding mother can bring her child, of any age, in here, that is fine. I just want to understand what we are saying.
If people think that "infant"means under six months, as in the World Health Organisation definition, that is fine too. I think it could be older than that. That is what we need to discuss. It is about clarity. It is certainly not about sending a signal to the community that the Greens and the Democrats are saying that we do not think women should be able to breastfeed in their workplace. That is a serious misrepresentation of what I said and what Ms Dundas has said.
MR SMYTH
(Leader of the Opposition) (11.39): Mr Stanhope started his speech by saying he is deeply surprised. I do not think any of us were at all surprised by the Labor Party's support for Mrs Cross, who is rapidly becoming known as the independent Labor member for Molonglo. Mr Stanhope's speech is an indication of that. To misrepresent the Greens and the Democrats as he did is becoming his stock-in-trade. Ms Tucker beat me to the point-Mr Quinlan
: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am not allowed to talk about parroting misinformation. I was picked up on that. If that is the standard, I think Mr Smyth has breached it.MR SPEAKER
: No, Mr Quinlan.Mr Quinlan
: So I can say that misrepresentation is someone's stock-in-trade?MR SPEAKER
: Mr Quinlan, just resume your seat and I will tell what you were picked up on. You were picked up on saying "deliberate misinformation". It had nothing to do with "parroting misinformation". Mr Smyth said that the Chief Minister was misrepresenting the Greens and the Democrats. It is up to Mr Stanhope to challenge that. If Mr Smyth were to say that Mr Stanhope was misleading this house, then it would be a different matter. But he was not saying that.MR SMYTH
: Mr Speaker, I was simply confirming what both the Greens and the Democrats had said.Mr Stanhope
: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker, now that we have gone this far. The Leader of the Opposition did mislead the house in saying that I misrepresented the Greens and the Democrats. All I did was ask a rhetorical question about how their attitude in this debate would be represented.MR SPEAKER
: Order! Mr Stanhope, you have to withdraw your claim that the Leader of the Opposition misled this house.Mr Stanhope
: Is that right?MR SPEAKER
: Yes.
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