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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (5 September) . . Page.. 3196 ..

MR MOORE (5.21): Yes, Mr Speaker, indeed it is a shameful thing for Mr Humphries not only to run this through as an urgent Bill but also to propose only a tiny bit over an hour for debate. Members wanted only five minutes each for the in-principle stage.

Mr Humphries: We do not want five minutes.

MR MOORE: Mr Humphries does not want five minutes. He does not need five minutes, because he is not interested in the full ramifications for everybody else in the Territory. If every member wanted just five minutes, there would not be enough time. If everybody who was opposing this Bill wanted to speak for five minutes, we would not even have enough time for that.

Mr Humphries: Yes, you would.

MR MOORE: Not by 6.15 pm.

Mr Humphries: Yes, that is enough time.

MR MOORE: We would get through the in-principle stage. Once we get through the in-principle stage, then of course we are going to have the detail stage. For the detail stage, Mr Humphries is allowing 15 minutes. I am drawing up an amendment to try to deal with clause (2) of the Bill. This is an appalling infringement of the rights of members to have their appropriate say. It is within standing orders; there is no question about that. Nevertheless, you have had to suspend standing orders in order to be able to get to this stage.

Mr Speaker, I think the time proposed is inappropriate. Clearly reflecting the will of the Assembly to have an urgent debate, I move the amendment circulated in my name. I typed it in a rush because of the limited time we have had. I move:

Paragraph (a), omit "6.15 pm", substitute "10.15 pm".

That will give us an appropriate time this evening, if it is necessary. Then the time for the remaining stages should be until 6.30 am on the next day of sitting, so that if we need to go further we will have appropriate time for the detail stage. Even as I stand here, I can see that there may well be a problem, in that this effectively negatives the second part of the motion; so I will just modify that and put "6.30 am". In paragraph (b), omit "6.30 pm this day" and substitute "6.30 am on the next day" or, to make it clear, "6.30 am on 6 September".

MR SPEAKER: The time for the discussion has concluded. Therefore, I will put the amendment moved by Mr Moore. The Clerk has suggested that you might like to move your amendments together, Mr Moore.

Mr Moore: Why do I have to do that, Mr Speaker? I think you should deal with paragraph (a) and then deal with paragraph (b), but thank you for your suggestion. I think we should deal with them separately. We should deal first with the paragraph that relates to the in-principle debate. If I may just clarify it, the reason I would like to deal

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