Page 1472 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 6 June 2007

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Mrs Burke: No, you’re playing with numbers. Shame on you!

MR HARGREAVES: Here she goes again—

Mr Barr: So you should never refurbish the properties?

MR HARGREAVES: lies, damned lies and statistics. Here we go!

Mr Barr: This is the Liberal Party position: you should never refurbish public housing property.

MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker—

Members interjecting—

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Barr and members of the opposition will remain silent.

MR HARGREAVES: Thanks very much, Mr Speaker. I remember some time ago when Mrs Burke put out a press release with all of these properties and asking us what are these properties. Mr Barr will remember this.

Mr Barr: I do.

MR HARGREAVES: She put out this press release saying there were all these vacant properties everywhere.

MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Barr!

MR HARGREAVES: So we looked into it. We looked into the list provided by Mrs Burke—

Mrs Burke: You mean you didn’t know at the time?

MR SPEAKER: I warn you, Mrs Burke.

MR HARGREAVES: And guess what: she got it right once; only one was there. All the rest had either been sold or they never were ours in the first place. You cannot trust a thing, you cannot trust a number, that Mrs Burke ever produces when it comes to housing. Mrs Burke wants to be serious about this thing. She keeps saying in this place: “Look, I’m happy to cooperate with you. Let me work with you.” Such warm and fuzzy things; I am really taken by this—to the point of tears sometimes, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Come back to the subject matter of the question instead of crying about it.

MR HARGREAVES: I am. All Mrs Burke has to do to stop herself looking stupid by putting out numbers which are wrong is to ask a question. We are very happy to provide her with the information any time she likes. But she does not; she launches


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