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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 5194 ..

MRS CROSS (continuing):

out a mortgage on my house and paid off most of my campaign, and that is on the public record.

I do not intend to take money from clubs. I have only been a member for two years and I think that what we are looking at here is reforming the rules about where the profits of gambling go. This is the bottom line. The profits of gambling should not be going to politicians, political parties or candidates: they should be going into the community which is where they are meant to be going.

I understand that there have been comments made by the former member, Mr Michael Moore. I was not around when that bill was presented. In fact, I had this bill drafted before-

Ms MacDonald: No, but he could tell you about it as he works in your office.

MRS CROSS: I can speak louder than you, so you can yell if you like.

I did not know Mr Moore, I did not know Mrs Moore and I did not know about this bill. This is something that I had in the works with Parliamentary Counsel more than a year ago. I tabled it this year. It is surprising to me that the minor parties and the crossbenches did not support it then, if there was a bill then and, if they did not like it the way it was, that they did not draft their own legislation at the time, or since, to ban donations altogether.

Isn't it funny that someone who has been here for eight years and goes about claiming to be the conscience of the community cannot think of putting a bill together to ban donations in a holistic way, whether they be political or not. I suppose you would not want to ban anything but corporate donations because, of course, you get donations from natural citizens. No, that would be a problem. Then you could not get loans from natural citizens, Ms Tucker.

It is interesting to me that you imply that I have not done my homework and that I do not understand what has gone on in this place. Well, I have done my homework. What I see here is a hypocrisy. I am very concerned that people like you, who have been in this place longer than I and should know better, have not come up with the alternative. If you do not like what I have done, you have had since May to come up with something better but you did not-

Mr Corbell: When are you going to apologise?

MRS CROSS: Oh, my god, it is the broken record again. It is the person we do not believe.

Why is it that someone who has had eight years to do the right thing by the community, did not? The community would have benefited to the tune of millions of dollars. Why didn't Ms Tucker do something about it then? Because she did not care. Oh, of course, no, that is not it-she did not want to upset the ALP. Oh my God!

This matter is not about upsetting the ALP, upsetting the Liberals or upsetting any party. It is about doing the right thing. It is wrong to accept donations from the profits of

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