Page 2462 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 1993
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Mr Connolly: I think I used that term, but never mind.
Mr Kaine: No, Mr Berry used it. Now the Chief Minister finds it necessary to be insulting. Please be even-handed about this unseemly language from the Government as well.
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you for that point of order and for bringing it to my attention, Mr Kaine. As in all situations, there are circumstances which one must judge. I would say that there was a very high level of provocation going on today, which does not, of course, necessitate insult but does necessitate a fair level of forbearance by all members. Please continue, Chief Minister.
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, in conclusion, I would say that I am always quite pedantically accurate in my use of language.
ANSWER TO QUESTION ON NOTICE
MR CORNWELL: Madam Speaker, may I take a point of order under standing order 118A?
Mr Berry: What does 118A say?
MR CORNWELL: It is the 30-day rule, Mr Berry, in case you have forgotten. I would like to ask a question of Mr Wood in relation to question No. 771.
MADAM SPEAKER: Just a minute, Mr Cornwell. I am seeking clarification. Thank you; I am with you now.
MR CORNWELL: I want to ask a question of Mr Wood as to when I might receive a reply to question No. 771 relating to the figures in the school census which, as I recall, was taken on 19 February this year.
MR WOOD: I am happy to respond and to say, "in due course". In respect of a lot of the questions that have recently come onto the notice paper, that is the same answer. I think there is a deliberate policy, quite clearly, on the part of people across the chamber to tie the bureaucracy down in a never ending series of complex, long, involved and convoluted questions. I have looked at this. I do not see a high priority in it. The department will respond in due course.
MR CORNWELL (3.07): Madam Speaker, I seek your guidance because part (b) of 118A states:
the Member may, at the conclusion of the explanation, move without notice "That the Assembly takes note of the explanation"; ...
Mr Moore: Which allows you to debate it.
MR CORNWELL: Yes. That was the advice that I was seeking, Mr Moore. I would be very happy to move that, in view of Mr Wood's quite flippant reply. I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the explanation.
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