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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 6 Hansard (14 June) . . Page.. 1784 ..

Mr Stanhope: Was I?

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: You were, sir, and I do not want to make history. As for calling someone a "goose", I think that is unparliamentary. I ask you to rise and withdraw the words.

Mr Stanhope: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, heaven forbid that you might be making history here! On a point of order, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker: explain to me why "goose" is unparliamentary.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think that it is.

Mr Stanhope: I would appreciate your wisdom and your direction on this.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: I would ask you to withdraw the word.

Mr Stanhope: I withdraw the word.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: I thank the Leader of the Opposition.

MR SMYTH: That is the sort of interjection you make when you have not got a case. This is another motion in favour of secrecy: keep it quiet. Why don't they trust the ACT population? It is the best educated population in the country. Why don't the opposition trust them to take in these facts and understand for themselves. What is it they are afraid of? They try to present this as some sort of ideologically driven notion that the Liberal Party is much in favour of. But when you actually see these charts and these facts, it is not a league table. I do not see how you can create a league table out of them. They are not scary. What they do is allow you to identify where the system is falling down.

Mr Kaine: How about you give us a set so we can make our own judgment?

MR SMYTH: Surely we should be using that information. You talk about making your own judgment. When they asked the parents, 76 per cent thought this information would be useful. They wanted to see this information; they thought they had a right to know. Yet the secretive Labor Party, once again, is standing in the way of people finding out more about how the school system is affecting, changing and educating their children. The second point in Mr Berry's motion is:

Mr Moore: Maybe league tables do.

MR SMYTH: Maybe league tables do. We are not talking about league tables. As Mr Moore said, the sentence goes on to say that league tables:

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