Page 1596 - Week 05 - Thursday, 8 May 2008
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my leader to do something else instead, which I did. But I want to put on the record that if there was an extra vehicle put on because I asked for an extra vehicle, that is not the case. I will say to the Assembly that when this trip was mooted—it was mooted in the school holidays—I said to the committee secretary, “If it is all right with the rangers and no-one has an objection and no extra vehicle is needed, would it be all right if I brought my son? It’s the school holidays and he might find it interesting because he’s not been to Namadgi for a while. He’s only young and his memories of his last visit to Namadgi may not be all that clear.”
I made it perfectly clear to the secretary of the committee and to the members of the committee that, if there was any sense that this was an inconvenience or an imposition, all they had to do was say, “Sorry, Vicki, not a good thing to do.” That would have been fine and I would have made other arrangements, as I had to do anyhow for that day. To imply that I insisted on an extra car is wrong. On the contrary, Mr Deputy Speaker, I made it perfectly clear that if it meant extra transport it should not happen. That needs to go on the record, because what you heard from Mr Gentleman today was another part of his hyperbole to cover his own confusion.
He did spend nine minutes of a 12-minute presentation—which was supposed to be about whether or not we should publish this report—doing what he could to get under my skin. I knew that that is what he would do, because he has nothing else to do to cover his own embarrassment. I did not go on the committee trip, but I actually do have a long and abiding interesting in the Namadgi national park and I do visit it on a regular basis. If Mr Gentleman has never been there and has never been to the sphagnum bogs or never been to the Orroral Valley or seen the Aboriginal rock art, that is his look out, not mine.
It is a sorry indictment of the Stanhope government that we come here today and we have this class A back flip. Mr Smyth is right—it does actually confirm everything that was written in the Daily Telegraph today. The people of the ACT should be very unhappy indeed about the performance of the Stanhope government, and the environment and conservation community would be particularly concerned. I commend the motion to the house, and I am grateful that, at last, the Stanhope government has been brought kicking and screaming to this position.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Education, Training and Young People—Standing Committee
Proposed reference
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (12.11): I seek leave to amend the motion for which I have previously given notice and to move the amended motion.
Leave granted.
MRS DUNNE: I move:
That the Children and Young People Bill 2008 be referred to the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Young People for investigation and report to the Assembly by 19 August 2008.
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