Page 2806 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 June 2012
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MRS DUNNE: I think, with one sentence, it is very hard for Mr Hargreaves to work out whether I am prosecuting the issue. I said that the community was appalled by this minister and I was going to go on to make the point why we should be debating this now, to reinforce the point that I had been making about why we should be debating this now.
MR SPEAKER: On the point of order, Mrs Dunne, let us keep to the procedural side of why this needs to brought on today, thank you.
MRS DUNNE: As I have said before, this is the time to debate it. We are in Assembly business. We discussed this in the party room today. I thank my colleagues for the support that they have shown me and the ACT community by agreeing that this motion should be brought forward. I thank my colleagues for their confidence in me and the community on this matter.
There is no doubt that this is a matter which is close to the heart of many members of this Assembly. I believe that we had a way forward and an agreement with Ms Le Couteur about how we would deal with this. The understanding I took from my discussions with Ms Le Couteur was that it was the wish of the Greens to debate and finalise this debate later in the day, and as a counter offer I put that we should start the debate today, that I should make my introductory comments and then I would agree to an adjournment to a later hour this day.
I made that agreement with Ms Le Couteur just as the bells were ringing at about 10 o’clock. I understand that, by the time my senior staffer had returned to his office, his phone was ringing to say that the Greens had thought better of that. I think that is the land speed record in terms of the Greens going back on a commitment. You cannot negotiate with the Greens.
The Greens make agreements all the time: “Yes we will go down this path.” I have had experience with the Greens changing their mind on issues before, on a regular basis, but never so fast. In the less than one-minute walk from Ms Le Couteur’s office to mine they had changed their mind. I hope that the Greens do not go back on their commitment today because they will be sending a very strong message to the community that they will go back on the commitment they made to start the debate now.
Mr Hargreaves: On a point of order, Mrs Dunne is prosecuting the argument and she should stick to the reasons why we should suspend standing orders.
MRS DUNNE: I am speaking on why we should suspend standing orders because it goes to the agreement that I made with the Greens this morning about how we should deal with this matter. And if the Greens go back on their commitment now, they are sending a very strong message that what they say in Assembly committee reports will not be borne out in this place. They will not stick by the people who make recommendations in Assembly committee reports and bring them to fruition in this place, for the good of the community. That is why we need to debate this now.
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