Page 1729 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 1 April 2009
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Ms Gallagher: Wait for me to give my speech, Brendan.
MR SMYTH: cannot get the documents a little bit earlier and we the members cannot get a briefing as well.
Ms Gallagher: I’m going to surprise you all. You’re going to fall over yourselves.
MR SMYTH: I can hear the whingeing from the minister.
Ms Gallagher: I am not whingeing.
MR SMYTH: I do not have a great deal of hope now that there will be some concessions.
Mr Seselja: She is going to surprise us, Brendan. I am waiting to be surprised.
MR SMYTH: I am willing to be surprised.
Mr Seselja: I am surprised that she withdrew today.
MR SMYTH: I am willing to be surprised, Mr Seselja. I am willing to be surprised, Mr Speaker. But the point is that there is no case made in this press release. The ridicule line is good. The ridicule is what you do, and it is what we expect from the government. They actually have not got a reason not to do it, and the press release is simply full of ridicule. There is this line:
The Liberals have sat on the sidelines offering no real practical solutions, offering no real practical solutions …
But we offered to meet with the Treasurer. We offered to meet with the Greens, to offer our solutions, to put them on the table, but they turned us down, Mr Speaker. They were unhappy with the way the invitation was delivered, so they declined to comment. I will await with interest the response from both the Greens and the minister as to what they intend to do. No-one can answer me, or no-one I have spoken to today can answer me, on why it is not unreasonable that we would get this at, say, 11 o’clock, under embargo. Nobody has ever broken the embargo, to the best of my knowledge, in the 20 years of the Assembly, because that would be very foolish and a betrayal of great trust. But no-one can make a case to me as to why we could not receive it early, under embargo, so that at least we can have a bit of time to explore what is a big document and a growing document and what undoubtedly will be a very important document for the people of the ACT, particularly this year but in the coming years, given the state of the ACT finances.
The motion speaks for itself. It should be supported. There is no logical reason for it not to be supported if you get past the ridicule. Somebody obviously in the government got a thesaurus for Christmas. We have heard all those wonderful words today from the Chief Minister and there are lines in here:
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