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MR DE DOMENICO (Minister for Urban Services) (12.04): If this matter were not so serious, we could just call this motion silly and throw it out. But this matter is very serious. I wonder whether Mr Berry and Ms Tucker know exactly what it is they are doing. If you read the motion and the amendments carefully, you can see that they would prevent us, for example, from dealing with an Australian company operating in France or China. Does that mean that people in the ACT and the ACT Government are not allowed to buy Foster's Lager? I can tell you, Mr Berry, that Foster's Lager has an enormous investment in China. If you read your motion carefully, it says that the ACT Government would not be able to deal with Carlton and United Breweries if it manufactures in China.

Mr Berry: That is fine. I do not care. What a blow!

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Berry says, “What is wrong with that? That is fine”. Mr Berry, Rhone-Poulenc is a major worldwide pharmaceutical company. It is a French company making certain medicines that only it can make to save people’s lives. Are we going to ban them too, Mr Berry? If we pass your motion, the answer to that is yes. Do we deal with any Chinese suppliers that deal in American products? There are a number of Chinese suppliers here in the ACT dealing in non-French or non-Chinese products. Do we ban them from the ACT? Do we put a fence around the ACT and say, “Hey, listen, we are different to every other jurisdiction in the world here in Canberra because of a motion passed by the next Leader of the Opposition from the mad Left of the Labor Party”, just to try to get some headlines in the newspaper? Of course we do not. It is a silly motion.

What about Jean-Pierre Favre, Mr Berry, the guy you went on radio singing with? Do we talk to him?

Mr Moore: He is Swiss.

MR DE DOMENICO: French, though. Pretty close. Do we talk to him? Do we go and eat at Chez Moustache? I bet you they have some French products at Chez Moustache. Do we ban them, too, and then put them out of business? Are you saying yes to that?

Mr Berry: If it is a French product, you do not buy it.

MR DE DOMENICO: Even though it puts some Canberrans out of business?

Mr Berry: Yes.

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Berry said yes. We put Canberra people out of business because of this motion. That is fine, Mr Berry. Do we ban the French language from school curriculums in the ACT? What is the answer to that, Mr Berry? Do we ban the French language from our curriculums in the ACT?

Mr Berry: The answer is: Don't be such a dickhead.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

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