Page 3426 - Week 09 - Thursday, 20 August 2009

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something that gives public servants a different experience. The commonwealth public service thinks that that experience is so valuable that they pay for it.

It was noted in passing that, although the Chief Minister was vehemently opposed to this when it was proposed this last budget round, in a former life, which he must have forgotten about, as a secretary of a Senate committee up on the hill, he was the author of a report that recommended such a course of action. I suppose it is the weight of office. Obviously being the Chief Minister, one forgets about what one may have committed to in a previous life.

Mr Stanhope: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Mrs Dunne has just misled the Assembly. As I am sure everybody in the Assembly knows, the case when I was a committee secretary was that I actually wrote reports consistent with what members of parliament determined. I did not actually include my own views or feelings in reports of committees that I was secretary to.

I find it quite remarkable that Mrs Dunne, as a member of this place, expects committee secretaries to introduce their own thinking and thoughts in Assembly reports. That is a most concerning understanding of the operations of the Committee Office, Mr Speaker, and I would suggest, in your role as Speaker of the Assembly, you ensure that members of the Assembly understand that. The imputation that secretaries of committees within the Assembly would actually subvert reports to respect their personal views is quite remarkable.

MR SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne.

MRS DUNNE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is interesting that the Chief Minister forgets what happened in a former life and suddenly has a view that this is unprecedented and entirely inappropriate, when he wrote a report that reflected those views. I did not actually comment on whether they were his views but he wrote the report that reflected those views.

Mr Stanhope: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

MRS DUNNE: It is not a point of order. This is a debate.

Mr Stanhope: Mrs Dunne is misleading the Assembly and I would ask her to withdraw the mislead. She quite clearly said that I had forgotten views that I had previously held. I had done no such thing. I was a committee secretary. I did not write the report. The report does not reflect my views and you just said it does. You are quite wrong. You should withdraw the mislead.

MRS DUNNE: It is not a point of order, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: That one is a point of order. It fits in the discussion. I am thinking about its status. Mrs Dunne, would you like to clarify your position?

MRS DUNNE: I would not want to do anything that would be construed in any way as misleading the Assembly. All I am doing is pointing out that, as the secretary of a committee of the Senate, the Chief Minister was the author of a particular recommendation which he seems to have forgotten.


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