Page 849 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 25 July 1989

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Mr Jensen: Okay, all right; you can count me in.

MR WHALAN: You are the third one, Mr Jensen.

Mr Collaery: He is not on your side.

MR WHALAN: He probably would not tell lies like you do, Bernard.

Mr Jensen: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Deputy Chief Minister has once again accused Mr Collaery of lying, and I request that you seek the withdrawal of that word.

MR SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, would you please withdraw it.

MR WHALAN: I withdraw. The point was, Mr Speaker, that what we discussed was next week, not the sitting pattern. The point which I discussed with Mr Collaery was next week. Mr Collaery said, "I understand that you have a proposal to sit next week". There was no discussion at all about the sitting pattern for the rest of the year. There was no discussion whatsoever - - -

Mr Collaery: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Mr Whalan is pointing his finger at me, and I would ask our colleague Mr Stefaniak to move him on to the subject.

MR SPEAKER: That is a frivolous comment, Mr Collaery. Please resume your seat.

MR WHALAN: I acknowledge that in my discussions during a day such as that I, as manager of government business, and for the information of the house, would normally have discussions with the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Kaine, the leader of the Residents Rally party, Mr Collaery, and the leader of the No Self Government Party, Mr Duby. I had those discussions, as usual, yesterday; there was nothing unusual about it.

In the discussions with Mr Collaery, he raised with me the question of sitting next week. He said, "I understand that there is a proposal to sit next week". There was no discussion at all about sitting for the rest of the year. I explained to him that this had been discussed in the earlier meeting that I had with Mr Kaine. Mr Kaine had expressed concern that the issues which we had to raise this week could not be fitted into the program this week. I went through, in considerable detail, our expectation as to how business could be managed this week, and Mr Kaine said, "I believe, on the basis of that, that it can fit in". That was the extent of our discussions, and to suggest that those discussions were about the sitting pattern for the rest of the year is a misrepresentation.


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