Page 2532 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 17 June 2009
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increase in student fares. For the Greens not to support our motion which calls for the fares to be reduced back to a reasonable level is in effect an endorsement of that fare increase. It is not at all reasonable to simply ask the government to review their own decision. I call on the government and the Greens to abandon their plan to hike tertiary student bus fares by an extraordinary amount and call on them to reinstate student bus fares for tertiary students. I commend the motion to the house.
Debate (on motion by Mr Corbell) adjourned to the next sitting.
Adjournment
Motion by Mr Corbell proposed:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Labor-Greens agreement
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (6.50): As many members would read CityNews, and perhaps some have missed it, there is an interesting article on page 5 that I thought that you yourself, Mr Speaker, might have an interest in, given that you may even have a mention in it. It is headed “Cracks in the Green pact” and it is an exclusive by Jorian Gardner. It reads:
ALL is far from rosy in the post-election Labor/Greens cosy parliamentary agreement with senior officials from both parties admitting privately that the relationship has become “strained”.
“It’s gotten really bad”, a senior Labor Party official told “CityNews”.
“Honestly, I don’t understand the games they are playing. We have nearly had enough of them.
“We are really sick of them and they should pull their heads in.”
At the same time, a senior Green has hit back, describing the ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell as a “goose” and “a total pain the arse” following the Minister’s accusing Speaker and leading Green Shane Rattenbury of “bias” on the floor of the Assembly.
The bickering comes as the Greens push for same-sex marriage laws to be re-introduced into the Assembly in a bid to test Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s resolve to apply the Federal Government’s veto over the ACT legislation the Commonwealth disagrees with.
Andrew Barr, an openly gay minister for Labor, has entered the fray reminding the Greens who introduced the progressive same-sex marriage legislation in the first place.
“This is Labor legislation and I refuse to be wedged on this issue by the Greens,” Mr Barr said.
In a previous interview, Greens Leader Meredith Hunter told “CityNews”: “It would … be fair to say that there are people (ministers) that are more enthusiastic than others (when dealing with the Greens).”
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