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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (26 November) . . Page.. 4749 ..

MRS CROSS (continuing):

I remember Mr Cornwell getting to his feet and going on-spraying on: how dare I question the Speaker and how dare I do what I did at that time. You will recall the matter, Mr Speaker. Anyway, the issue is that in any democratic parliamentary process, every member has the opportunity and the right to question things. It does not mean that question is right or wrong. The fact is that we are allowed that in our parliamentary process. I remember that he was so personally affronted by it, given that he had been the former Speaker, that I got a spray across the chamber and a lecture about how naive I was and that all parliamentarians around the world knew that this was something you just did not do to a Speaker.

Mr Cornwell has made generalised statements such as, "The crossbench are in favour of restorative justice because they are removed from being victims of crime."Perhaps Mr Cornwell can share with the members of this place and, indeed, all the people in this building whether he has conducted a survey of the crossbench to determine whether (a) they have been victims of crime, and (b) how that correlates with anyone, let alone the crossbench, being in favour or not of restorative justice? Frankly, I do not see the logic there from someone that has been a member of this place and in fact a long-serving member to this community-longer than anybody else here. I just do not see where that comes from.

I also resent the fact that we crossbench members are put into one party grouping by Mr Cornwell, when we are three individuals that happen to sit on the crossbench and represent a variety of philosophies from time to time. This is something that, for some reason, Mr Cornwell chooses to ignore. And I am very concerned that someone of his experience and-

Mr Stanhope: Sensitivity?

Mr Hargreaves: Myopia?

MRS CROSS: No, I am trying to be politically correct. I am concerned that someone of his generation would make such silly comments when he is fully aware that the crossbench is made up of a diverse group of people. Indeed, it is inappropriate for any member of this place to make this comment about victims of crime and how only victims of crime can favour restorative justice. Let me tell you now, Mr Cornwell, through you, Mr Speaker, that victims of crime do not have a monopoly on believing in restorative justice. That is a fact, and if you choose to believe otherwise then maybe you are in the wrong place.

MR QUINLAN (Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism, and Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming) (9.20): Very briefly, I just wanted to observe that it is a great pity that this debate is not being recorded on film or visual disk for public consumption. I think we have seen tonight that we have probably the most right-wing, reactionary party in an Australian parliament since Joh Bjelke-Petersen. In the next few months we will see Mr Brendan Smyth trying to paint himself as a progressive out there in elector land, but I think the true picture is the picture we saw of this group this evening.

MR STEFANIAK (9.21), in reply: Might I firstly thank members for their contributions to this debate. It certainly has been most interesting. I will start with a few general points.

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