Page 1257 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 23 March 2010
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say a few things in relation to this. First and foremost, it is important that we point out something that members of the Liberal Party have lost sight of to date—that the parliamentary agreement between the Labor Party and the Greens, signed on 31 October 2008—and I have it here and I am happy to table it—states:
THIS AGREEMENT is made on the 31st day of October 2008
BETWEEN Mr Jon Stanhope, Leader of the Australian Labor Party, ACT Branch
AND Ms Meredith Hunter, Parliamentary Convenor of the ACT Greens
That is the heading and title of the agreement. It is made, and declared to have been made, by me, representing the Australian Labor Party, and Ms Hunter, representing the ACT Greens party. It is witnessed by Ms Gallagher and yourself, Mr Speaker. It is an agreement—
Mr Hanson: As the Deputy Chief Minister?
MR STANHOPE: She is a witness. You’re not that dumb. Are you that dumb? The agreement was executed between two political parties—the ACT branch of the Labor Party and the ACT Greens. It was an agreement, and remains an agreement, between the ACT branch of the Labor Party and the ACT Greens. It was signed by me and it was signed by Ms Hunter. It was witnessed by Ms Gallagher, not as a party to the agreement but as a witness. It was witnessed by Mr Rattenbury, not as a party to the agreement but as a witness. The agreement is between two political parties.
The question in relation to which Mr Speaker has made his ruling was a question asked by Mr Seselja about that political agreement. Mr Speaker, in his response to the point of order, rightly and appropriately said, on that occasion, and repeated today in further explanation:
You cannot ask about the Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement—
a political agreement—
but the rest of your question is broadly valid.
And the rest of the question went to initiatives adopted by the government consistent with that political agreement. So they moved from being part of a political agreement to being part of government policy. In the implementation of that policy, the minister is rightly responsible to this place, and that is what Mr Speaker said: “You cannot ask about the political agreement but you can ask about the government acceptance of a policy position agreed to as part of the political process.”
What did Ms Gallagher do? She went on at some length to answer the question. You asked the question about a matter which was agreed between two political parties and then adopted by the government of the day as government policy, and Ms Gallagher went to some length, and she started the answer to her question by saying:
I can … inform the Assembly of the discussions …
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