Page 2950 - Week 13 - Thursday, 23 November 1989
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withdrawing the motion and negotiating first. We know that Mr Collaery has given his word to his party that he will not go on with negotiations until they have been informed, and that is one of the features of the Residents Rally. That will make it very, very awkward to form a government.
Mrs Nolan: We will talk to you next week.
MR MOORE: Mrs Nolan interjects and says we will talk on it next week, and that brings me to the next point. Mr Whalan has suggested - - -
Mrs Nolan: To you.
Mr Humphries: "Talk to you", she said.
MR MOORE: Mr Whalan has suggested exactly the same thing as Mrs Nolan said, that this talking should occur in this house next week.
Mr Humphries: "Talk to you", she said.
MR MOORE: She said that she would talk to me next week? Mrs Nolan, you and I talk often, so that will not be anything out of the ordinary and I greatly appreciate that.
Now, one wonders whether the request in writing is just a signature on the same piece of paper for everybody or whether they individually require a letter with that. I suppose, since no details are given, we can always check with the Clerk to see whether that is a possibility.
To come back to the point, Mr Speaker, Mr Whalan has suggested that we should sit next week. I for one am prepared, if we have a good enough reason, to request an alternative day - according to this motion - to bring us back to sitting. I am quite content to do that should it be necessary, even though of course it is much harder work and a much tenser time.
MR DUBY (4.23): Mr Speaker, we are talking to the motion which states:
... except that in the event that the Government resigns, the Speaker may fix an alternative day or hour of sitting on receipt of a request in writing from an absolute majority of Members.
Mr Jensen: It is a standard clause.
MR DUBY: That is an absolutely standard clause, as Mr Jensen has said. However, I must point out that this has not been a standard afternoon in the meetings of this Assembly. One has visions of vehicles waiting behind bushes in Dunrossil Drive and places like that, or the Clerk of the house reading proclamations in front of this Assembly, or whatever. One never knows what has been going on in the backrooms of power.
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