Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (12 November) . . Page.. 4011 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

They include destroying or damaging Commonwealth property, destruction of evidence, intimidating a witness, most family law offences, child sex tourism offences, any offence relating to harming, intimidating or impersonating a police officer, all postal and telecommunications offences, and all Commonwealth drug offences. The irony is that, if this legislation I will be proposing tomorrow were to be passed and the situation that was the subject of Mr Nadruku's proceedings were to occur again, we would have the anomalous situation that if a person came out of the nightclub and assaulted some women he would not be able to rely on the drunk's defence, but if he assaulted a police officer he would.

I think the message I am getting across with this answer is very clear, that is, that the legislation which the Commonwealth has urged on us ought to be remedied at the Commonwealth level with at least as much urgency as it is being remedied at the ACT level. In fact, if the Assembly sees fit to pass the legislation I will be bringing forward tomorrow before, say, the end of December, our legislation will have been fixed up, so to speak, some three years before the Commonwealth legislation is to be fixed up.

MS McRAE: My question without notice is to Mrs Carnell in her capacity as Chief Minister. Chief Minister, can you confirm that you phoned the former Deputy Chief Minister, Tony De Domenico, in Melbourne in the days immediately before Christmas last year and told him that Lend Lease was about to phone him with a job offer and that he should take it?

MRS CARNELL: I can absolutely guarantee that that is not the case. But it is certainly true that Lend Lease did do a character check on Tony with me. That is true.

MS McRAE: Chief Minister, can you further confirm that Lend Lease is a 50 per cent shareholder in Australian Water Services, the company which subsequently offered the Deputy Chief Minister a job?

Mr Whitecross: What did you say in the character reference?

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MRS CARNELL: You did not ask that. That is not the supplementary question.

I actually understand that that might be the case. I suppose I have always assumed that that was why Lend Lease was doing a character check in the fullness of time. It is actually quite normal for people who are head-hunting someone to check with people who might know that that is the case. I think I actually did speak to Mr De Domenico about it. I think it is very important here - - -

Ms McRae: Oh!

MRS CARNELL: Why would I not?

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .