Page 3600 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 25 August 2009

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Mr Hanson: You have said that 18 times now, Simon. We get it. We understand your position. Repeating it endlessly does not really help. I understand what you say and I understand your position.

MR CORBELL: And I have five minutes to explain what my position is, Mr Hanson. Madam Assistant Speaker, for that reason the government believes that the forms of this place should be respected. This is an abuse, and we disagree.

MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (3.47): Out-of-order petitions by their nature are out of order. They do not look like the standard petition that would be tabled by the Clerk at the opening of the day. When you receive a document, as many members do, sometimes you go and get advice from the Clerk’s office as to how to best present it to the Assembly.

This is what Mrs Dunne did. She went to the Clerk and said, “Look, I know it does not conform as a petition. Can it be tabled as an out-of-order petition?” The answer was “yes, it can”—advice from the Clerk’s office. Advice was sought on who could do that: “You can go to a minister or you can do it by leave.”

The argument that Mr Corbell puts in place, that the government does not accept it as an out-of-order petition, is invalid in this case. We have advice that it is. It is the government’s opinion that it is not. We are now going to take almost 15 minutes, in which time such a petition could have been tabled and we all could have moved on, but again it is Mr Corbell on his high horse, leaping to his feet just to stymie the process. We give leave for a majority of cases in this place—speeches, tabling statements—

Mr Hanson: It is opposition for opposition’s sake.

MR SMYTH: It is in fact opposition for opposition’s sake. Well said, Mr Hanson. It says volumes about the manager of government business and the way he approaches this house. It simply says that Mr Corbell has not realised that they are no longer a majority government whereby he can ride roughshod over this place, whereby he can determine what is and is not simply because he has the numbers. He does not have the numbers. What we should have—

Mr Barr: That’s the will of the Assembly, isn’t it, Brendan? You are very fond of the will of the Assembly, aren’t you?

MR SMYTH: Yes, it is the will of the Assembly. We will see the will of the Assembly in a minute. It was very different before October.

The process followed was on the advice of the Clerk. The advice was that it could be tabled as an out-of-order petition. The government is just choosing. There was no case made. It was “we just choose not to accept it as an out-of-order petition”. Give us a reason why it is not an out-of-order petition.

The problem for the government and the problem for the manager of government business is that he just does not like things being out of his control. That is what this


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