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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 01 Hansard (Wednesday, 11 February 2004) . . Page.. 245 ..


Mr Hargreaves: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. I draw your attention to the fact that the motion talks about a block of land at Majura, does not talk about a block of land anywhere else, and this line of Mr Smyth’s is irrelevant.

MR SPEAKER: Yes, remain relevant, Mr Smyth.

MR SMYTH: I think it is very relevant, Mr Speaker, because the first line of the motion talks about the ACT prison site and the ACT prison site is currently Hume. I seek leave to table the document, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Is leave granted?

Mr Hargreaves: I have not seen it. Give me a look at it first.

MR SMYTH: It is ALP electoral material. Surely it is appropriate.

MR SPEAKER: I think I am hearing a no; leave is not granted.

Mr Hargreaves: Just give us a few minutes.

MR SMYTH: All right, have a look at it. It is interesting that Labor members want to vet ALP electoral material for the seat of Eden-Monaro, so let that go on the record as well. Mr Speaker, this document talks a bit about the jail site at Hume, has a few titbits from the ALP’s how to run a local issues campaign handbook, and finishes with a petition to the House of Representatives. I might say that this electoral material, on my copy at least, has not been authorised. So Mr Watt might like to consider what he is going to say to the AEC and how he might go about making amends for a potential breach of the electoral act. Of more importance is the fact that nowhere on this flyer is it mentioned that Mr Watt is a member of Mr Stanhope’s staff.

Mr Hargreaves: Mr Speaker I take a point of order. Mr Smyth is out of order.

MR SMYTH: Under which standing order?

Mr Hargreaves: It has nothing to do, to repeat the words in the first line of the motion, with the federal government’s failure to cooperate with the ACT government in releasing land at Majura for an ACT prison site. It does not talk about having any prison site, even one at Gulargambone; it just talks about a Majura site. Mr Smyth has spent a minute or so talking about another site.

MR SPEAKER: I think that it would be a bit hard to separate the two, Mr Hargreaves.

MR SMYTH: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The document actually speaks about placing pressure on the federal government to make the land at Majura available to the ACT government, so it is absolutely relevant. (Extension of time granted.) But it does not mention, as does page 5 of the ACT government contacts booklet, that Mr Kelvin Watt is a media adviser to the Chief Minister, the same Chief Minister who has announced that he will build a jail at Hume, the same Chief Minister who would have discussed this issue at length with his advisers, and you would assume particularly his media adviser. I


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