Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 10 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2833 ..

MR QUINLAN (continuing):

I from time to time stood in this place and said that there might be influences other than the ACT government, and I still hold that to be true. We have already found that Mr Smyth has had a short trip from Damascus. This would confirm that Mrs Dunne similarly has had a trip from the same place.

There is even a warning in some of the figures that are put out, particularly those for youth unemployment. It says, "This series is highly volatile and should be taken with a grain of salt." I also think that is the case. As soon as the figures moved up a month or so ago by 0.4 per cent, it was gloom and doom from Mr Humphries. The major point I want to make here today is that there has been a little bit of looseness in the interpretation of figures by Mr Humphries in government and now out of government. He is now on the other side of the fence, but it still persists. I am glad to see, Mr Humphries, that your former staffer at least wants to be a little bit more-can I use "honest" without getting into trouble?

MR SPEAKER: No, you cannot.

MR QUINLAN: Can I call her honest?

MR SPEAKER: Yes, you can.

MR QUINLAN: Can I accuse her of being honest? She has been fairer in her interpretation.

Insurance legislation

MR STEFANIAK: My question is to the Attorney-General. You recently tabled the Civil Law (Wrongs) Bill. Part 11.2 of that bill contains general reporting requirements for insurers requiring them to report annually to the minister on premiums, the number of claims, the number of claims refused and anything else required under the regulations. There is a similar provision in Mr Smyth's private members legislation which he introduced last Wednesday. Unfortunately, your colleague Mr Quinlan in the Estimates Committee on 17 July said of data collected through such an approach that "it's highly likely to be redundant" and that "it's highly likely to be statistically unreliable". However, to the untrained eye these provisions in the two bills seem identical.

Can you explain why your deputy considers the collection of data unreliable but you regard it as essential? Why are you confident that data collected through this approach as opposed to Mr Smyth's approach will be statistically reliable and useful?

MR STANHOPE: We are talking about two pieces of legislation that were tabled last week. I do not know whether Mr Stefaniak would like to wait for a detailed debate in relation to these issues.

Mr Quinlan: He can't think of a question.

MR STANHOPE: That is right. Mr Stefaniak refers to comments that were allegedly made by my colleague Mr Quinlan in estimates. I have absolutely no idea of the context in which the questions were asked and the answers given. Nor does anybody else in this place.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .