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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (2 February) . . Page.. 12 ..

Members interjected.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Other members were heard in silence. I expect the same courtesy to be extended to Mr Hird.

Mr Kaine: That is not true, Mr Speaker. The Chief Minister constantly interjected.

MR SPEAKER: Nothing like this.

MR HIRD: Being forced to come back with a report in two hours on the Saturday afternoon after I had received the fourth draft, instead of being given until the scheduled meeting, which I understood had been set down for last Monday, was most unreasonable and no more than the chairman's bullying tactics to suppress my contribution to the committee. He tried to throw out anything which did not support his devious political agenda. Mr Speaker, I was absolutely disgusted by the behaviour of the committee. I believe every member of this Assembly should be gravely concerned at the disgraceful way the committee sought to distort information and intimidate me by not agreeing to give me an opportunity to put forward my amendments.

There is a related matter which also needs to be sorted out and that is the question of when authorisation was given to publish the report, Mr Speaker. I would like to ask the Deputy Speaker: When did you authorise publication of the report of the Select Committee on the Territory's Superannuation Commitments? I would be grateful if you, Mr Speaker, could ascertain that from him and inform the Assembly.

Mr Speaker, I believe that because of the depths to which this committee has sunk, and because of the damage that could be done to the concept of select committees in this Assembly, you should investigate how things got so far out of hand. The committee denied me my rights under standing orders. The chair used intimidation to force agreement. Therefore, Mr Speaker, I believe that you should not accept this report and that you should immediately begin an investigation into the conduct of this select committee.

There is no doubt that the decision to sell ACTEW requires courage because it is not politically popular in the short term; but, as we have all been elected to provide leadership, I believe we have been given an inescapable moral responsibility to do what is best for the community in the long term. Unfortunately, society is littered with the results of decisions by politicians which were taken to get them past the next election but which have left a legacy of lost opportunities and reduced living standards.

Just take a look at Victoria in the 1980s. For purely ideological reasons, the then Labor Government of Victoria spent up and plunged the State into debt. They put off making the tough decisions and just pushed their debt into the future. When the bubble burst, which it always does eventually, Labor's legacy was to abandon many people of Victoria to poverty and misery. That is what this gutless decision to walk away from the sale of ACTEW will do to the people of this great Territory. That is not what I want for those for whom I am responsible.

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