Page 2387 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 16 June 2009
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Adjournment
Motion (by Ms Gallagher) proposed:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Estimates 2009-2010—Select Committee
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (6.01): Unfortunately, in the debate on the estimates report, I was not accorded an extension of time and I did not have a chance to thank the committee staff. So I would certainly like to thank Ms Grace Concannon and Dr Hanna Jaireth for their assistance, particularly in the deliberation phase as they steered us through the mire that is often in an estimates report that emerges for tabling in this place. To Nicola Derigo, Erin Anderson, Celeste Italiano, Ms Rachel Lee and Mr Andrew Dib, thank you very much for your support. To the administrative assistant, Lydia Chung, we are most grateful for the assistance that you provided to us. To Dr Lilburn for the leadership that she provides to the whole secretariat, I would say thank you very much.
It is interesting to note the number of members who turned up, apart from Mr Seselja, Ms Le Couteur, Ms Bresnan, Ms Burch and me. Mr Coe, Mr Doszpot, Mrs Dunne, Mr Hanson, Ms Hunter, Ms Porter and Mr Rattenbury all turned up. So it was a full house. It was great to see that people actually came down and participated. They participated at different levels. Some stayed for a long time, some stayed for very short periods of time. But people had the opportunity to come down and ask the questions.
I think the way that the chair, Mr Seselja, conducted matters is a tribute to him. It was done slightly differently—and I pick up on what Ms Le Couteur said—in that it afforded us the opportunity to get to the detail, to be forensic about it. And the approach was done, I think, quite skilfully. The approach was handled well. We all did not get to ask all the questions that we wanted to ask, which is why they had to go on notice. But I think, in the main, it was very well done. So well done to Mr Seselja as chair and to the other members of the committee.
They are not the easiest of times, to sit for 12 days, with the same five people, and then go into the cloister of decision-making mode and then sit for almost another four days. It is quite an interesting process. But in the main, people kept their cool and we got through it. These reports are never what everybody wanted but it is a fair distillation of what the general thought was. Clearly, the general thought is that there is no plan in this budget to take the ACT out of the situation that it finds itself in. And that is of great concern to me.
Live in Canberra campaign
Canberra Raiders
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (6.04): On Sunday, I had the great pleasure of welcoming to Canberra and to the Raiders game 200 new Canberra residents who have arrived in Canberra in the last 12 months. I must say that, when I first came to
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