Page 491 - Week 02 - Thursday, 3 March 1994
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Mr De Domenico: No; we want only this one.
Mr Connolly: What about furniture deals?
MR BERRY: What about furniture deals? Would you like them all tabled? No, just that one. You have to be even-handed about it. Your mates would not be real happy if you were to ask that they all be tabled. It is a commercial-in-confidence matter. I have made it clear to you that the protection - - -
Mr Kaine: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there was a clear implication, in what the Minister just said, that some people doing business with the Government would be unhappy at having their contracts exposed. In other words, there is something wrong with those contracts. I think the Minister ought to withdraw that.
MADAM SPEAKER: There was no imputation against any member. Continue, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: Your friends in commerce would not be happy at commercial advantage being given to their competitors through the exposure of their contracts. You have to be a bit even-handed on this one. What you will find from the advice that I gave you yesterday is that the Government is safe. It was pointed out in the advice that ACTTAB would be taking appropriate measures to protect themselves.
Assembly Committee Reports - Government Responses
MR MOORE: Madam Speaker, my question is directed to Rosemary Follett as Chief Minister.
Mr Berry: Hooray! The first one with courage to ask the Chief Minister a question.
MR MOORE: It is a very sensible question too, as she will find. The 1992 "Handbook on ACT Government Participation in Parliamentary and Other Inquiries", Part 1, paragraph 17, states:
As a general rule, Cabinet Submissions proposing the Government's response must be lodged in sufficient time to enable the responsible Minister to make a statement to the Assembly within three months of the tabling of the report in the Assembly.
No doubt the Chief Minister is aware that the notice paper today, Thursday, 3 March 1994, contains reference to no fewer than five reports from March 1993, one from May 1993, six from June 1993, three from August 1993 and one from September, as well as others since then. Is the Chief Minister intending to ensure that her Government responds, or is she simply going to continue to hold this Assembly's committees in contempt?
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