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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 8 Hansard (28 October) . . Page.. 2382 ..


Mr Corbell: He is debating the issue. Mr Humphries is continually standing up in this place and debating the issue through points of order. That is quite out of order.

MR SPEAKER: I am waiting to hear Mr Humphries' point of order. You will have your chance after that, if you wish.

Mr Moore: Nobody does it like Mr Berry. You will notice that Mr Berry is not sitting down.

Mr Humphries: No, he is not. Mr Speaker, I am sure that it would be very tempting for members opposite to get into a big debate about privatisation. We could all engage in that exercise. But that is not what this issue is about. It is about the selective use of figures in respect of this matter. If we have a debate about privatisation, it will be an endless debate, a very wide-ranging debate, and it will not focus on the issue that we have raised in this motion. I have not drafted this motion in terms of censuring Mr Corbell for misleading the Assembly, full stop. I have specifically quoted the references to power outage in Victoria as a result of privatisation.

MR SPEAKER: That is correct.

MR BERRY: No, Mr Speaker, that is not correct. Bear with me.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MR BERRY: Let me speak to the point of order, Mr Speaker. You allowed Mr Smyth to talk about this issue by saying, "We have to keep this in context". To keep it in context, Mr Speaker, you have to refer to everything said that was relevant to the matter. It would be cheating to allow Mr Humphries to select just a few words from the Hansard and not the remainder of the words which refer to the same matter, that is, the growth of power outages in Melbourne. That is keeping it in context. Mr Speaker, it is also relevant to what Mr Moore said in relation to the matter. It is about creating the impression. This is about completing the debate on the issue in context to make sure that the impression is correct. Mr Humphries wants to avoid examining the issues which are, in fact, applicable to the creation of a proper impression.

MR SPEAKER: Order! I refer all members to the motion moved by Mr Humphries. That is the matter under debate at the moment. We are not debating anything else.

MR BERRY: Thank you, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: And I would remind you of it, Mr Berry.

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, I thank you for referring me to Mr Humphries' motion. Therefore, reflecting on Mr Humphries' motion, I accept that I can only refer to Mr Corbell's comments - all of them. It does not restrict me from speaking about some of Mr Corbell's comments; it allows me to talk about all of them, I submit. Mr Corbell went on to say:


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