Page 1186 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR SPEAKER: One moment and I will consult my list. Mr Stanhope, I think under standing order 55 it is a personal reflection on Mr Coe, and I would invite you to withdraw it, please. I think it is not the sort of standard we want in the Assembly.
MR STANHOPE: To the extent it is a personal reflection—I must say, I am interested in that ruling, Mr Speaker, and I thank you for that—I withdraw the personal reflection.
I do thank members for their contributions. It is a most important issue, and the government is disappointed that the majority of the Assembly chooses not to inquire into this matter. I do find it interesting that the majority of the Assembly—the Liberal Party and the Greens—have decided to opt out of a very important and very significant inquiry. I think it does raise some important questions about future inquiries and future requests and future motions by the Liberal Party and the Greens asking for the government’s support in relation to Assembly inquiries when, on this most important matter, the Greens and the Liberal Party do not wish to be involved indirectly or as part of a most significant inquiry. They would prefer, I guess, an expression of trust in the government that they believe that this inquiry—
Mr Hanson: Are you saying we should not trust the government? Is that what you’re saying?
MR STANHOPE: Well, I thank Mr Hanson. I thank the members of the Liberal Party and I thank the Greens for this expression of trust in the government, believing this particular inquiry to be better handled by the government than by them. I guess it is fair to suggest that the Liberal Party and the Greens believe this particular inquiry will be handled more capably by the government than it would be if it were in your hands, Mr Hanson.
Mr Hanson: Well, I appreciate you don’t think we should trust you.
MR STANHOPE: Well, I appreciate, Mr Hanson, that you believe the government is to be more trusted than you are to be trusted in relation to this most important matter. Whilst, of course, I welcome the expressed support of the Liberals and the Greens for this particular inquiry, I regret the fact that they want nothing to do with it and that they would prefer that the inquiry be pursued solely by the government.
So, as the little red hen said—I am just a little bit out of date—we will do it ourselves if nobody else wants to. We will do it ourselves. We will do it without you, as we do just about everything else.
Mr Coe’s amendment to Ms Bresnan’s proposed amendment agreed to.
Ms Bresnan’s amendment, as amended, agreed to.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .