Page 2493 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 17 June 2009
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standing orders to suit them. When the standing orders are very clear in saying that Mr Barr should go back, he does not do it. Yet you have Mr Corbell popping up time and time again, every single day, pointing out certain standing orders that we are not complying with or that should be imprinted by the Speaker.
I find it very interesting and a bit rich that the Labor Party should have these double standards when it comes to standing orders. If standing orders are to have any effect, if they are to have any credibility and integrity whatsoever, they have to be enforced all the time and have to be respected all the time. It is a great disappointment when a minister comes in here and tells the people of Canberra that he does not think he needs to give an answer.
Even if the standing order did not stipulate that he had to go back—even if that did not happen—why did he not go back anyway out of courtesy, out of respect for those five members, out of respect for the Assembly, out of respect for the 345,000 people that live in Canberra? Do they not deserve to have the answers? No; according to Mr Barr, they do not. I find it very disappointing. I think it is a shame that this motion has to go ahead today. I very much support Mr Hanson’s motion to try and bring some integrity back into the Assembly.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (4.26), by leave: This has been a very interesting debate. The most interesting thing I have found or heard, or probably the most depressing thing I heard, was an interjection from Mr Barr. Mr Barr interjected to say that the lesson learnt is: don’t use call-in powers during estimates.
Mr Stanhope: Yes. That’s the lesson.
MS LE COUTEUR: That is not the lesson that we are trying to talk about here, Mr Barr.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Chief Minister, do not interject.
Ms Bresnan: Point of order.
Mr Hanson: I think we have learned lots of lessons about you, Mr Stanhope. We keep learning about your character.
Mr Stanhope: On a point of order, Madam Assistant Speaker: he is interjecting.
Ms Bresnan: On a point of order: Ms Le Couteur has the floor.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Yes.
Mr Stanhope: Madam Assistant Speaker—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Sit down, Chief Minister. You are trying my patience and I am sure you are trying to try my patience. I ask members not to interject. I was just about to say that when Ms Bresnan rose to her feet. I ask members not to interject and to listen to Ms Le Couteur.
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