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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 9 Hansard (1 September) . . Page.. 2761 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

In a decisive 91-8 vote on Monday, the North Carolina Legislature elected Rep. David Schare [a Democrat from Wilmington] to run out and get some cigarettes for his fellow legislators. "Mister Speaker and all my distinguished colleagues, I am honoured to accept the post of Smokesman-At-Arms," Schare said following the vote. "I will do my very best to fulfill my duties faithfully and diligently. So, who wants menthols?" Schare is the 49th person to hold the recently renamed post, which had been called "Faggoteer General" since the state's first assembly in 1789.

I look forward to the Tobacco (Amendment) Bill in the morning.

Impounded Trailer

MS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (6.09), in reply: The comments Mr Berry made are totally unacceptable. They are sleazy comments. He is using this place to make comments about petty corruption. Of course the corruption must have been by Mr Smyth's department, must it not, if there was any? I answered the question fully. If Mr Berry had bothered to look at Hansard, he would know that what I said, on advice, during question time was that there were legal questions about the right of the rangers to remove the trailer and therefore it was returned.

Mr Berry: Would you be prepared to table the legal advice?

MS CARNELL: What legal advice? I indicated that that particular legal issue had subsequently been resolved. No bill was raised. No bill was sent. Therefore, no bill could have been paid. It is my advice that there were issues about whether the ranger had the right to move the trailer. The other issue here is that Mr Berry has nothing better to do with his time than to talk about an unregistered trailer. Mr Speaker, how long do you think that trailer had been there? Ten years? It has been there for a very long time. When those opposite were in power, it was there.

Mr Moore: Did they not remove it when they were in power?

MS CARNELL: No. it must have been some corrupt practice. Mr Speaker, this is patently ridiculous. It is just smearing a very important member of our community or alternatively Mr Smyth's department - one or the other.

Mr Berry: Give me all the details or I will be back tomorrow night and I will really lay it on.

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I have given all of the details. Every time Mr Berry sinks to a new low, it just makes sure that we will win the next election.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Assembly adjourned at 6.11 pm

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