Page 1189 - Week 04 - Thursday, 4 May 2006
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR HARGREAVES: You certainly stand alone, Mr Pratt, because nobody likes you and you have not got a friend in hell. You are on your own, son. Mr Speaker, such words of wisdoms out of this man! He stands alone, but is it any wonder as he makes such a goose of himself with incredible regularity.
Mr Pratt: Do not mislead.
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, he is upset now. He is terribly upset now. That is a shame, isn’t it? Oh, dear me, dear me! As to the constitution of this committee, my recommendation to the Manager of Government Business was that it contain three members from the government and two members from the opposition and, on a three-two majority, the government obviously would assume the chair. The Manager of Government Business said that we need to be more inclusive in this place, that we need to make sure that nobody has a majority over a parliamentary process. We could take a leaf out of the Howard government’s method of appointing chairs to committees, could we not? Is it an inclusive one that acknowledges the primacy of parliament over the executive? I do not think so.
Mr Barr: They have gone silent now.
MR HARGREAVES: Not only have they gone silent but also Mr Smyth has gone. I think he has gone out to search for a friend. If he has gone out to look for a friend, I think he has as much hope of finding one as Mr Pratt.
Mr Barr: Where is Mr Mulcahy?
MR HARGREAVES: Superswanner, the man who has gone round the world searching for a friend, will not find one either.
Mr Pratt: I take a point of order. Could I quote the standing order which pertains to the point of relevance? Can we get back to the debate, please, instead of having all this rubbish that Mr Hargreaves is carrying on with about going round the world?
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, I wish to speak to the point of order. Mr Pratt’s question to you was: can I quote the standing order? The answer to that is no, he cannot. He could ask Mrs Dunne. She is the best opposition whip we have seen from your side for a long time. In fact, she ought to dish out lessons to Mrs Burke and Mr Pratt.
THE SPEAKER: Order! It is standing order 58 and you should not digress from the subject matter.
MR HARGREAVES: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. It goes to the relevance of the operation of the committee. If these blokes do not even know the standing orders of this place, how are they going to manage a country barbecue, let alone perform in an estimates committee, the most important select committee of this place? What will happen? Do you know what we are afraid of? I will tell you what we are afraid of. We are afraid of someone like Mr Mulcahy popping up as the chair of the estimates committee.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .