Page 2611 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 2 July 2008
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Mr Seselja: Like the promise not to close schools.
MS GALLAGHER: When they hear what comes out of my mouth, they know that it is true, and I take significant offence at the insinuation that I am not telling the truth. I think Mr Smyth used the word “belies” rather than standing up and accusing me of lying to the people of the ACT, because he cannot prove it. I take significant personal offence at that.
Mr Smyth cannot prove it. I stand by the comments that I made, and that were selectively reported and repeated by Mr Smyth when he dropped the word “inappropriate” to suit the purposes of his argument. My comments were that there was no document that would indicate improper involvement by the government in this process. The opposition has failed to prove that there has been any improper involvement by the executive of the government, which is what I was talking about and what I was quoted about. It has failed to substantiate any proof of that.
In fact, we went into all of these matters in the debate on the motion of no confidence last week, and the opposition failed even to sway any non-government crossbenchers. No-one supported its motion of no confidence in this house. I know that it is easy to turn it around and say that everyone did support you, but they did not. The history, as reflected in the record of this debate of the Assembly, will show that the no-confidence motion failed by 11 votes to six, and that was because of the opposition’s failure to substantiate its case.
Mr Seselja: How many thought he misled?
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Seselja!
Mr Seselja: Everyone but you guys. How many?
MR SPEAKER: I warn you, Mr Seselja.
MS GALLAGHER: I know it hurts, Mr Seselja, but that is what occurred last week.
MR SPEAKER: Direct your comments through the chair, Deputy Chief Minister.
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Mr Smyth selectively quoted from the briefing notes. He quoted a couple of lines from page 1. He failed to quote anything that goes to other sites mentioned in the appropriate briefing note to the department. Incredibly—and to support the purposes of his argument, presumably—he failed to quote the fact that, with respect to other blocks, if they were to be selected by ActewAGL and the private consortium, further measures would need to be taken regarding the future release of industrial land.
With respect to the argument that Mr Smyth put forward that there was a selective release of documents, I would argue that the opposition have been extremely selective in the information they put forward today. They quote from one page of a document but they do not quote from the whole document; and, incredibly, they do not link it to the letter that the Chief Minister signed off, which clearly puts all of the sites on the table for ActewAGL and the private consortium to consider.
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