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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (10 July) . . Page.. 2377 ..
Mr Stanhope: One line of the budget.
MR HUMPHRIES: I am having great difficulty with being heard, Mr Speaker. I have to ask for some protection from the chair.
Ms Tucker: I rise to a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would like to raise the issue of relevance. I will not mind if everyone has just one speech today, but I thought we were to be talking about the SIP and this has become a discussion about the budget, which we will have the opportunity to have later. I bring that to your attention.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, we are discussing the Supervised Injecting Place Trial Amendment Bill, but we have moved off it. We have to relate to it. I am sure that Mr Humphries can do that.
Ms Carnell: Speaking to the point of order: the problem is that the only reason this amendment is coming forward is the budget. There is no way that this amendment would have come forward otherwise.
Mr Berry: Mrs Carnell is debating the issue, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: No, she is not. Sit down. Mr Humphries is well aware of the standing orders. I am sure that he will bring the SIP into the general debate. I am sure that other members would like to participate in this debate. I would ask them to stop interjecting.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, as I said at the outset of my remarks, the amendment bill before the Assembly today is a reflection of the political reality in this place. The government of the day needs to have a budget to be able to govern; it is as simple as that. Without a budget, there is no government. We went to the Assembly and asked for support for a budget. The Assembly said no.
Let us go over some of the events of the last few days, continuing on this issue. We are told by interjections in this place that the Labor Party gave the government a way out of its problem by offering to pass its budget on Monday of last week, that Mr Stanhope had trotted up to Mrs Carnell's office-
Mr Stanhope: Skipped up.
MR HUMPHRIES: Skipped up, whatever you want to do, to Mrs Carnell's office and told her-
Mr Kaine: The only problem was that he was five minutes after Paul Osborne.
MR HUMPHRIES: Actually, he was quite a long time after Mr Osborne, if the truth be known, a very long time.
Mr Stanhope: Tell us the truth.
MR HUMPHRIES
: I am telling you the truth, Mr Stanhope. We had contact with Independents the day the budget was rejected. We heard from you lot almost four days later, four days after the budget had been rejected, and you tell us that you would have
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