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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 Hansard (14 May) . . Page.. 1216 ..

MR DE DOMENICO: You had your chance. Now it is my chance. You were uninterrupted, too, by the way. What Mrs Carnell did say, and I heard her, was, "Yes, there have been discussions". What documentation specifically does Mr Berry require? Does he know? The answer is no, of course he does not know what he wants. What Mr Berry is trying to do once again is score another political point personally against Mrs Carnell. That makes you look pretty good in one of your branches there in Ginninderra, but what the hell has it to do with the price of fish and what we are doing here today? The answer is nothing. Either you lot over there are going to say, "Yes, we believe that the Kingston foreshore development is good for the people of the ACT", or you are going to say, "No, it is not". How the hell could anybody tell you what the cost of cleaning up the site is going to be when we do not even know whether the site has to be cleaned up or not? No answer. What Mrs Carnell has said all the way through is that discussions will be held once we know whether anything is contaminated or not and what part of the site is contaminated.

As far as I am concerned, if Ms McRae and Mr Berry from now on want every single piece of documentation that goes backwards and forwards between Ministers and individuals around the Public Service, between the Commonwealth and the ACT, what are we here for? Who is going to be prepared to put anything on paper? Certainly not someone who thinks Mr Berry might come here and use it in this place. What I am saying to the Opposition is: Get real. Let us get on with the business of this place. Let us not waste time just to score political points that might make you look good in your local electorate.

MR BERRY (4.04), in reply: The question here clearly is that there was a marathon of obfuscation during question time, when Ms McRae asked a clear question about the Commonwealth's commitment to the clearing of the Kingston site.

Mrs Carnell: No, to negotiate.

MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell interjects, "No, to negotiate". Mrs Carnell had a question put to her which went like this: When did the Commonwealth indicate its commitment to cleaning up Kingston and what was the offer made? That is clear. There is nothing about negotiations. In the course of her obfuscation during the course of answering, or trying to give the appearance of answering, Ms McRae's question, Mrs Carnell, on my recollection, clearly referred to letters or correspondence with the Commonwealth - - -

Mrs Carnell: Where is the Hansard?

Mr De Domenico: Where is the Hansard?

MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell and Mr De Domenico just interjected, "Where is the Hansard?". If they were so interested in going back and having a look at the Hansard and then coming back to this Assembly, they would have moved to adjourn this debate and we could have come back to it tomorrow. No, they are not going to get caught there, because they know very well that it was mentioned in the Hansard and there is no avoiding it.

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