Page 1302 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 11 May 2021
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this chamber. This is where we make the decisions. This is where we come forward and we can make those decisions.
What has happened here is not any technical standing order issue because you clarified that, in your words. You clarified that. What has happened here is what we have seen time and again and that is the Greens in the media, out in the community, Braddock the brave, telling us how urgent this matter is, getting fired up in the community, doing all the media, and then coming into this place and getting weak-kneed; coming in here and gets schmoozed by Mr Gentleman. Mr Rattenbury is not going to want any disturbance in the nice little arrangement he has got going with the Labor Party. He has got all the deals. He says, “Look, Andrew, mate, look.”
We understand. You are fired up. You have got to keep people engaged in the community. You want your bite in the media. You want to pretend that you care about these matters. In the media, you can say, “I am going to fight the Labor Party. I am going to stand up to the developers.”
But what happens is they come in here and what we find out is no, Mr Braddock here is in bed with the Labor Party and the developers. They are going to vote along the way that they want to or adjourn this, and you know that this will never come back. You know that this will not come back to this place or it will be after the land sales have happened or Mr Braddock has been appeased in other ways.
There is no reason that this should be adjourned. Mr Braddock should not be out there in the community saying one thing, saying it in the media, coming in here and then deciding that they are going to hide behind some sort of standing order which you clarified, Madam Speaker. You clarified that there is no standing order that would preclude us debating this matter through to its entirety.
But the Labor Party and the Greens do not want a vote because they know that a vote would be pretty embarrassing, would it not? They do not want that disturbance to the force, this nice little marriage that they have got. So what they will do is continue with the playbook. They have got it better written. I expect that this has been a bit bumpy for them.
What will happen is that Mr Braddock and the others will go out into the community, they will get people fired up and they will get the community excited. “This is a Green that is different. This is a Green that is actually going to support what we say. He will work with the Liberals because he cares about Gungahlin. He will work with the Liberals and get some support to stop the Labor Party steamrolling over the Gungahlin community.
But what happens? He comes in here, just like Ms Le Couteur did, sadly, firing up the Weston Creek Community Council, firing up the Woden Valley Community Council, getting them excited, and coming in here and doing exactly what Mr Rattenbury wants, which is what Mr Barr wants.
We should not be adjourning this debate. There is no reason to, under standing orders. If members want to adjourn the debate or not have the vote, be honest about it. Say,
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