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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2488 ..

MR SPEAKER: I am happy to uphold the point of order.

Mr Corbell: On a point of order, Mr Speaker - - -

MR SPEAKER: The motion refers to the Prime Minister's refusal to live in the Prime Minister's Lodge. To date I have heard nothing but talk about employment or lack of it.

MR BERRY: Why would the Prime Minister not want to live here? I will tell you why. Because he would not want to see the faces of the people whose confidence he has undermined, whose confidence has been undermined by the Territory Chief Minister, Kate Carnell, and whose confidence has been undermined by the effects of their actions in respect of the Territory's economy. Mrs Carnell, a closet apologist, comes out and says, "Really, Mr Howard spends as much time here as he does in Sydney. It is just awful that he goes out and says that he is not going to live here, because he really spends a lot of time here". That is John Howard's line. He is the one that has abandoned Canberra, Mrs Carnell, not the Labor Party. Labor Party Prime Ministers have lived here. If he does not like living in Deakin, I am happy for him to live in Holt. I would not even care if he were living next-door. The house would be a bit small, but he could come and live beside me. Maybe I should withdraw that. My neighbours might not like it too much. I have made a statement there which could cost me in my electorate.

Mr Osborne: Mr Speaker, I would like Mr Berry to withdraw that and stop misleading the Assembly.

MR BERRY: No; I am prepared to have him living next-door to me if he will come and live in Canberra; but I am afraid that my neighbours might object.

Mrs Littlewood: They must be pretty tolerant if you are a neighbour.

MR BERRY: They are a pretty tolerant lot out in Holt. Mrs Carnell should drive out there one day. It is a long way, but she should drive out and have a look. Mr Speaker, I saw in the Canberra Times today the following report:

In a furious outburst, Mr Howard warned -

listen to this one; what a doozey -

that "Canberra bashing" by Liberal and National Party Premiers could lead to the downfall of the federal Coalition, and cited them for his defeat in 1987.

That is the last of him, it appears, because this Minister and this party have been responsible for the overwhelming majority of the Canberra bashing that I have seen since I came here in 1972. So, Mr Speaker, John Howard is the person who needs to be condemned. I see that he has threatened to go after anybody who attacks him in respect of this. I think he is pretty safe. Mrs Carnell is not going to give him too much of a hard time, because she already says that he spends as much time here as he does in Sydney and that is really okay.

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