Page 1730 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012
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MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (4.07): Mr Speaker, there is no question before the chair. Members have sought and have been granted leave to speak in response to the statement that the minister for education made. Mr Doszpot was granted that courtesy. Ms Hunter was granted that courtesy. But just because Mr Doszpot is upset with something Ms Hunter has said, or vice versa, we should not allow the Assembly to degenerate to a point where we simply grant everyone leave because someone is upset with something somebody else has said.
Mr Doszpot interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot, you are pushing the limit.
MR CORBELL: There is the opportunity for Mr Doszpot to move a substantive motion in this place to raise the matters that he is concerned about. I appreciate that Mr Doszpot is concerned about the comments made by Ms Hunter. There are forms available to him under the standing orders. If he feels he has been misrepresented he can make an explanation in accordance with the standing orders. If he wishes to make a personal explanation he can seek your indulgence, Mr Speaker, to do that. But the government is not as a matter of principle going to agree to multiple grantings of leave, particularly where a member has already been granted leave once, simply because of some sense of feeling aggrieved about a comment made by another member. We will not get the business of this place done in those circumstances. So I would simply invite Mr Doszpot to reconsider, to perhaps use the other forms available to him under the standing orders or indeed to use the adjournment debate tonight to raise his concerns. There is other business before this place and a continual granting of leave is not something the government wishes to indulge in.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (4.09): I would just briefly make the point that we expect this from the government, but we are very generous to the Greens when they seek leave. We, as a matter of course, grant it—there are some occasions when we do not—and we would expect the same courtesy. This has not been granted to Mr Doszpot in this case and we will obviously consider our position when other members seek leave. Our position has been that we are happy generally to grant people leave, including members of the government from time to time when they ordinarily should not be able to speak. We have given that courtesy. The Greens and the Labor Party today are choosing not to grant that courtesy to Mr Doszpot. That is disappointing. We think he should be granted that opportunity.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Leader, ACT Greens) (4.10): It has been summed up earlier in this debate; that is, that leave was granted. I am not sure if Mr Seselja was here in the chamber, but we did grant leave. I was very clear that I gave leave to Mr Doszpot, as leave was given to me, to make a brief statement. It is normal in this place when a minister makes a statement that leave is given to others to speak to that statement. But we do not keep having a conversation and going back and forth for quite a while after that. You are given a chance to respond. That is what happened here this afternoon. Mr Doszpot has been given a go and I have been given a go.
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