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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 3252 ..

MRS DUNNE (continuing):

This is the testament of what one or two people can do. One or two people, Mr Speaker, thought that this was a sufficient issue to pursue it; to go down every hollow and find the answers; and bring to our attention where there was disagreement between bureaucrats and officials about the value or not of the trees.

To get a community activity going, to get the 1,500-odd signatures on petitions, to have regular meetings, to keep people informed, to be in our faces, Mr Speaker, that is what the public is there for. This motion today is testament to the hard work of the Belconnen community. I am proud to represent the people of Belconnen because of the work that they have done on this, and I am proud to support this motion.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (12:23): Mr Speaker, you only have to marvel at the gross hypocrisy of the Liberal Party's actions on this matter.

Mrs Dunne: Mr Speaker, I think we've already had this discussion. We have asked that that word be withdrawn before.

MR SPEAKER: I was just consulting with the clerk on this issue, and I wondered how it was that we got into the position of ruling out "hypocrisy". I thought I'd better have a look at the dictionary to find out what it means, as described in the dictionary anyway. If a member were to say a former administration or members of a former administration had done one thing in government and another thing outside of government, you might say that hypocrisy was the description they used.

Because the word "hypocrisy"has been ruled out so many times in the past as unparliamentary, I'm not going allow it to be used in relation to individuals standing on their feet here, but I think members are entitled to draw into question the position of former administrations as compared to members of that administration who are now here. But I won't stand for members on their feet being called hypocrites.

MR CORBELL: I'll certainly be conscious of your ruling, Mr Speaker. The gross hypocrisy of the now opposition's approach compared to that which they took when they were in government is just astounding to marvel at.

Here is a process for land release which is being conducted in accordance with all of the requirements that this Assembly puts upon any government; consistent with the land act, consistent with the Territory Plan, consistent with land release policies, consistent with the assessment of significant trees under the tree protection legislation-consistent with all of those things. Even though we've been through all that process and even though they started it, all of a sudden it's not good enough.

And well may Mrs Dunne walk out of the chamber. It would have been a very interesting discussion, I think, in the Liberal Party party room this morning to hear this approach. Who was the minister at the time that agreed to the sale of this land? Gary Humphries was. Who was sitting in the cabinet with him when the cabinet agreed to the land release program that included this parcel of land? Brendan Smyth was and Bill Stefaniak was.

Did they say a single word in defence of this site? They knew it was on the land release program; it was in their cabinet papers. Did they say a single word in defence of this

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