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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 2060 ..
MR BERRY: Yes, I know. Some of us would have assumed, as has been past practice, that other members who did not participate in the debate may do so in the course of a cognate debate on the Appropriation Bill.
MR SPEAKER: It is too late.
MR BERRY: "How do I get myself to that point," is the question, I suppose. I am just seeking your guidance.
MR SPEAKER: I am advised that you would need leave to speak widely on the bill, Mr Berry. The opportunity was there to debate it or to adjourn it. It was not taken up.
MR BERRY: I accept that. There must be some way I can suspend standing orders in order to allow me and others to do that.
MR SPEAKER: We are going to discuss these appropriations one by one.
MR BERRY: The opportunity does not present itself, Mr Speaker, unless we have the usual practice of a cognate debate on the Estimates Committee report and the Appropriation Bill. Let me test this one on you. If I were to move to suspend so much of the standing orders as would prevent members debating the Estimates Committee report and the government response during the appropriation debate, would that suffice? I do not want to set any precedents here.
MR SPEAKER: It would be easier for you to seek leave to speak on the first item. The only problem, I suppose, is do you want to confine yourself to speaking in a wide-ranging fashion only on the first item?
MR BERRY: I am happy enough to do that. We can deal with the others as they come along. It is entirely up to the members here if they grant leave. I think it might be more appropriate to widen it for other members who have not spoken by moving to suspend standing orders to enable members to make a contribution on the Estimates Committee report and the government response during the debate on the Appropriation Bill.
MR SPEAKER: Is leave granted to suspend standing orders to allow that to happen?
Leave granted.
Motion (by Mr Berry ) agreed to:
That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent members debating the Estimates Committee report and the government response during the appropriation debate.
MR STANHOPE
(Leader of the Opposition) (4.30): Mr Speaker, I maintain a very close interest in the operations of parliament, as each of us do. I do note that in the estimates process, and perhaps in the draft budget process, issues affecting the Legislative Assembly did not loom large in people's considerations of the budget allocation or the government's plans or vision for the place. There are not very many
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