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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Thursday, 13 May 2004) . . Page.. 1897 ..

entire nature of this piece of legislation by stealth without community consultation. I have made the offer, and the Liberal opposition makes the offer, that we will pass enabling legislation. We do not care whose enabling legislation it is, as long as it is good law. This is bad law, and we will not support it. I do not care whose enabling legislation it is. My ego is not as big as Mr Corbell’s or Mr Stanhope’s. It would have to be damned big to be that big. I do not care. I have made a commitment to the people of Gungahlin that they will get their road, which could have commenced on 1 July 2002—

Mr Stanhope: If you hadn’t stopped them.

MRS DUNNE: No, if you hadn’t stopped them! If you hadn’t gone to the election with Simon Corbell’s lie, you would not have been able to do this.

Mr Hargreaves: I have a point of order, Mr Speaker. I ask to have the word “lie” withdrawn. Ms Dunne just accused Mr Corbell of a lie, and she should withdraw it.

MRS DUNNE: I withdraw it. If the Labor party had not misrepresented their position to the electorate, we would not be in this situation now.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Dunne has the floor.

MRS DUNNE: The Labor party went to the previous election with a commitment that they could not keep. We told them then; we told them consistently. We have not wavered from that position. Their commitment could not be kept. They knew it and they deceived the people of Canberra because they withheld the facts, as with many things the government does—just as Mr Corbell was talking about here. He will attempt to blackmail us by going out tomorrow and telling—

Mr Hargreaves: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. Suggestions that the minister would try to blackmail members of this place are grossly unparliamentary.

MRS DUNNE: Okay. I will withdraw “blackmail”. I will just describe it and people can give it the noun they choose.

Mr Hargreaves: Mr Speaker, on a point of order, it’s a qualified withdrawal and I object to it.

MRS DUNNE: I have withdrawn the word “blackmail”. Mr Corbell and Mr Stanhope have said that they will go out tomorrow and put out a press release that tells part of the story. Yes, if we oppose this tonight—which we will—it is strictly true that the road will not go ahead next week. That is strictly true. We are talking about real Jesuitical casuistry here. They are actually trying to make us cower because they think we cannot hold our heads up high. We can hold our heads up high because we have been constant. We have not wavered, while you have flip-flopped all over the way and got this place into an almighty mess. Now you want to blame somebody else.

They have wasted the time, money, effort and energy of countless people in this community for years over this. Mr Corbell, when he was in opposition, thought that he could make political mileage out of it, and it has come back and blown up in their face. He thinks he went to Gungahlin the other day and was greeted like a conquering hero.

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