Page 821 - Week 05 - Thursday, 6 July 1989
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Mr Jensen: I understood that he said he had, and that was why he was choosing to make a statement.
MR SPEAKER: Please resume your seat. You are out of order. The Deputy Chief Minister has been given leave to make a statement. There is no point of order relating to relevance or direction on this matter.
Mr Kaine: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would like it to be known that Mr Collaery was loitering with me, so there was no ill intent in the loitering.
MR SPEAKER: Please proceed, Deputy Chief Minister.
MR WHALAN: With the knowledge, Mr Speaker, that Mr Kaine was present, I now know that there was at least one decent person there. The second point - - -
Mr Collaery: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Minister is saying I am indecent. I do not feel that way, Mr Speaker, but, if he will rephrase that, I will assume any position that he wants on that topic.
MR SPEAKER: I request the Deputy Chief Minister to withdraw that comment.
MR WHALAN: Yes, I withdraw it, and it is obvious that Michael Moore had better come back and start holding his hand or something else again.
The second point that I would like to make, Mr Speaker, is that Mr Collaery suggested that a section of the Labor front bench is unable to support the Chief Minister on the floor. That is patently untrue. Thirdly, he suggested that there is some doubt as to whether I am dedicated to allowing the Government to become stable. The fact is that the Government is totally stable, and I am dedicated to keeping it that way.
Fourthly, he suggested that I had proposed that the Assembly not sit through the spring period, to quote him, or, to quote him again, across the Federal budget period. That is totally mendacious.
Mr Collaery: Spell it.
MR WHALAN: You will not be able to, Bernard. You did not go through the ACT school system. The fact is, Mr Speaker, that I have been meeting with party leaders to attempt to establish an agreed pattern of sittings for the rest of the year. I have proposed, simply as an option, that because we will sit for two weeks in July, which is unusual for Australian parliaments, we need not sit in August. There has been no decision on the matter at this stage.
I turn now, Mr Speaker, to the statutory declaration which was tabled as a result of my motion requiring Mr Collaery to table documents. It is the statutory declaration of
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