Page 5271 - Week 12 - Thursday, 28 October 2010
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We talk a lot about the new paradigm. I suspect all we have got is the old paradigm. That is what you have got when you have got a coalition. We have a coalition of the Greens and the Labor Party. In that coalition they will always attempt to get what they want. What we are about is getting what is best for the people of the ACT and ensuring that this legislation delivers what it was put in place to do.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (12.03): I think that this is an unfortunate discussion that we are having this morning. I certainly never anticipated when we worked quite hard on this legislation to pass it that we would end up with this sort of impasse. I do not believe that it meets the spirit of the discussion we are having. The irony, of course, is that Mr Smyth in his last few remarks has talked about the coalition between the Greens and the Labor Party. Of course, it was the Greens and the Liberal Party who worked together to pass this legislation. But I am sure that that irony is lost only on Mr Smyth.
Ms Hunter: Yes, remember that one.
Mr Smyth: But we are not in coalition with you guys.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Hargreaves): Order! Members from the Greens and the Liberal opposition will desist. Mr Rattenbury has the floor.
MR RATTENBURY: In his opening remarks in this discussion, Mr Seselja talked about wanting a more mature and sensible conversation, process and approach around this matter. In light of those comments it is instructive to consider the history of this matter. Mr Seselja talked about the first time he heard about the names was when the Chief Minister made a public announcement.
Ms Hunter brought up this inconvenient truth—inconvenient for Mr Seselja’s narrative at least—before. In fact, the Chief Minister provided the proposed names to both Ms Hunter and Mr Seselja before publicly releasing them. He invited both of them to give him any feedback on either of those names before they were publicly released.
I know this is a fact because Ms Hunter received the names. She approached our party room and said: “I’m comfortable with these names. I’ve looked at the CVs. Does anybody else in the party room have any comments?” We all looked at the CVs and we felt—
Mr Seselja: You nominated one of them.
MR RATTENBURY: I will come to that in a moment, Mr Seselja.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order! Mr Rattenbury, please do not bait them.
MR RATTENBURY: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. Let us just focus on the facts here for a moment. Mr Seselja, when he stood up this morning, said that the first that he heard of it was when it was publicly announced. Yet the facts are clear that the
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