Page 4034 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 13 December 2006
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welcome her confirmation that no preferential treatment was provided to any bidder throughout the sales process.
The only people who need to answer any questions today on this matter are Mr Seselja and Dr Foskey, not the government, for continuing to make claims, not just once but again and again, in a deliberate campaign to besmirch the reputation of the ACT Planning and Land Authority, the Land Development Agency, and this city as a place in which to invest and do business. They have abused the processes of this place. Mr Seselja must be censured on this matter and Dr Foskey must be sanctioned because of her failure to apologise for her serious and grave allegations.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo) (10.57): Mr Speaker this is an absolute stunt. We just heard from Mr Corbell—
Mr Barr: Just admit that you were wrong, Zed. Swallow some pride, Zed.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR SESELJA: We just heard from Mr Corbell and he did not even back up the first part of his motion. When Simon Corbell woke up this morning he was a little disappointed with the media coverage of the Auditor-General’s report. So Simon Corbell is off the hook. The media almost had him but it could not quite pin him down. The headline on page 6 of the newspaper states, “Territory Plan clear as mud.” When he was interviewed today by Ross Solly and Mike Jeffries he consistently lost the argument. He is losing the argument in public. He is now seeking to play it out and to abuse the majority in the Assembly.
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Seselja has the call.
MR SESELJA: He is abusing the majority in the Assembly in a way that is unheard of to try to regain some momentum on this issue. Mr Corbell, who has been on the back foot on this issue for several months, breathed a sigh of relief because this report is not quite as damning as one might have anticipated. Because Mr Corbell did not get the kind of coverage he wanted in the newspapers today stating good things about him, he uses his majority in the Assembly to attempt to censure me.
It will be an empty censure as only the government will support this motion, unlike the censure motions moved against him in the past by members of different political parties for persistently and unlawfully misleading the Assembly. That is what is at the heart of this censure motion. He is still smarting about that. In relation to the first part of the motion, Mr Corbell has not even managed to back up his claims. He said that I abused the process of the Legislative Assembly by making misleading and untrue claims.
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Seselja has the call.
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