Page 595 - Week 02 - Thursday, 6 March 2008
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MR CORBELL: Well, you were not there, Mrs Dunne. It does not say so in the report.
Mrs Dunne: I was. I was there at the roundtable you were at. You left early—
MR CORBELL: Along with Mr Smyth—
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Let us cut out the conversations across the chamber.
MR CORBELL: I was there, along with Mr Smyth, Ms Porter and Mr Gentleman. The Labor Party was well represented; we were engaged; we were there; we were talking about it. Those are the members recorded as being present. I do not recall these matters being raised then. I do not recall these heartfelt and strongly felt matters of principle being raised then. I do not remember that happening. Certainly the government’s representative on the committee cannot recall these matters being advanced in any substantive form during the course of the committee’s deliberations, and that is the whole point.
These are important issues. The standing orders and the continuing resolutions of this place are fundamental to the operation of this place. There needs to be broad agreement and consensus across the Assembly on how we conduct our business and what the rules of this place are. That is why we had such a lengthy and detailed process to reach a strong level of agreement across all the different interests represented in this place as to how we should conduct business. It is simply not good enough that at one minute to midnight, after five individuals on different occasions represented the Liberal Party in this committee—
Mrs Burke: This is a recording. This is a recording.
MR CORBELL: I know you do not like it, Mrs Burke, but I am going to continue to say it. What an absolute shambles the representation of the Liberal Party on this committee has been—Mrs Dunne, Mrs Burke, Mrs Dunne, Mr Smyth, Mrs Burke—
Mrs Burke: Standing order 62—
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Mr Corbell, I must say you have repeated that theme about 17 times. Can you please come to the substance of your debate?
MR CORBELL: Mr Deputy Speaker, I think you need to put aside your partisan perspectives on this matter.
Mrs Dunne: On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Corbell needs to withdraw the imputation that you are partisan. He needs to withdraw that now.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Corbell, you withdraw that—pretty rapidly, too.
MR CORBELL: I am glad you take your instructions from Mrs Dunne, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I withdraw—
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