Page 5740 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 November 2010

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records management arrangements to be made for that body. The new section, again arising from the scrutiny report, addresses a concern of the committee and proposes that a report be provided to the Assembly of agreements reached with other jurisdictions so that the Assembly is made aware of these agreements.

Amendment No 4 is something of a mystery to me at this minute but I am advised it is technical in nature.

Amendments agreed to.

Bill as a whole, as amended, agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Adjournment

Motion by Mr Stanhope proposed:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Energy—cost

MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (5.40): It is good to see that the workings of the Assembly and the Hansard of the Assembly are read around the country. I have had forwarded to me the Catallaxy Files that has a quote from yesterday’s question time. It was in fact Mr Coe’s question, an excellent question to the Minister for Energy, and relates to the increasing cost of electricity in the ACT. It is about this $225 and whether it is really 15 per cent of an annual electricity bill of $1,522. It goes through Mr Corbell’s attempts at explaining that $225 really is not 15 per cent, it is just $4 a week.

There was a supplementary question. Mr Corbell said a number of times, “Listen carefully,” and then of course the dimwit comment which he was forced to withdraw was made, and he withdrew. The blogger finishes with:

and so on.

The best bit is this.

MR SMYTH: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, do you agree that $4 a week at 52 weeks a year equals $208 per annum, divided by $1,522 per year as the average electricity bill equals one-seventh or approximately 14 per cent?

The commentary then goes on:

Basic arithmetic is now the basis of parliamentary questions.

There are a number of responses to this. No 1, from Fleeced, is:

Wow … that’s pathetic. Continually repeating that it’s not $225 a year, but “only $4 a week”.


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