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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Thursday, 13 May 2004) . . Page.. 1833 ..

guilty or half pregnant. The Chief Minister has either misled the Assembly—and you said you had, Chief Minister—or he has not.

Mr Stanhope: Well, oppose the amendment.

MRS BURKE: I am talking to the watered-down amendment. Through you, Mr Speaker, I address my comments. I am not comfortable with the amendment to our motion.

Mr Stanhope: Well, oppose it.

MRS BURKE: No. I will tell you why, Chief Minister and Mr Speaker, I will not be opposing the motion.

MR SPEAKER: Order, members. It’s been going pretty well so far.

MRS BURKE: I will accept it very reluctantly. The Chief Minister openly admits that he misled the Assembly. Indeed, it is not the first time, Mr Speaker. He has misled the Assembly on numerous occasions in relation to the bushfires.

To now downgrade this motion to grave concern waters down the severity of the issue. At the risk of the Chief Minister simply walking out of here on a technicality, of being able to say, “You see, I have been cleared of any wrongdoing”—and that is what you would like, isn’t it Chief Minister?—I will be supporting, extremely reluctantly, the amendment by Ms Dundas.

The grave concern I will have, from here on in, is as to whether we have severely lowered the credibility of this place and the role of politicians in the ACT which, it is already seen, Mr Stanhope, has been very low anyway. Members need to remember that this debate is about the position, not the person. So again, Mrs Cross—and I think you are an amenable fellow, Mr Stanhope—this is about position. You know it, and you can sit there arrogantly and blustering away as you do, but it is about the position, not the person, and the conduct of such a person in that position.

Indeed, I was interested to note—and I will probably sit down after this. Mr Stanhope, I was intrigued, why did you mention conspiracy so much?

MR HARGREAVES (4.55): I will be fairly brief. I have sat here for probably 95 per cent or maybe more of this debate and I have seen such an awful lot of smoke and mirrors, contemptible fabrication and straw man building from that side that I feel quite ill. The motion before the Assembly today talks about a phone call and the Chief Minister’s recollection of it. It does not talk about the bushfire scene; it does not talk about the matters before the coroner.

The lot over there have done nothing but put the Chief Minister on trial for the whole management of the bushfire process. That is what they have done. An examination of Hansard will reveal that. You can yell nonsense until you are blue in the face but it is true. The lily-livered crowd over there mount this big thing saying, “Oh well, we’ve got to hang the Chief Minister because he’s misled this place.” They have gone to water.

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