Page 5427 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 November 2011
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Mr Corbell, in his hearings on 1 October, took on notice the exact date. “I am happy to provide an exact date. I will go and check.” The question that has not been answered is: what checking did Mr Corbell do between the first of this month and yesterday when he used that detail again in this place as though it were a fact? He said, “No, they’ve got the money.” It is only through the persistence and the diligence of Mr Coe that we are here today and only because Mr Corbell was held to account by the Liberal Party, not by the Greens. There is no accountability from the Greens on this. The Greens said they were third-party insurance. Well, they are a third-party insurance party for the Labor Party.
Mr Barr: A point of order, Mr Assistant Speaker.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Stop the clock, please.
Mr Barr: I draw your attention to standing order 62—tedious repetition of arguments of previous members—and wonder whether that, in fact, applies now to Mr Smyth.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr Coe, I do not need your help. You will go the same way Mr Doszpot went shortly. Mr Smyth, I think the minister has a point. I am hearing the same points time and time again. I ask you to be aware of that standing order and be careful how you go from here on.
MR SMYTH: I would be very happy for you to point out what I have tediously repeated since I started speaking today.
Ms Hunter: Most of what you say.
MR SMYTH: No, no, the tedious repetition is in the debate; it is not about whether you repeat something over a period of time.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Smyth, I have ruled that Mr Barr is correct in relation to the thing. I have just asked you to be careful going forward. Please resume your speech.
MR SMYTH: Okay. It is an interesting ruling, because if you apply that to its logical end, it means you can say something in this place once. Nothing could ever be repeated. If that is the ruling—
Members interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: No, no—members will not argue across the chamber, thanks.
MR SMYTH: If that is the rule then so be it. We will see whether that standard is applied, because it will not be.
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