Page 4415 - Week 14 - Thursday, 28 November 2013
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MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (12.25): We will not be supporting the suspension because I have made it very clear in this place that—
Mr Barr interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, Mr Barr!
MR HANSON: I did not hear the interjection. I will ignore it.
MADAM SPEAKER: You would ignore it anyway.
MR HANSON: I would have, Madam Speaker; you are right. I have made it pretty clear that there is a nonsense occurring here with the executive minister providing these legislative responses when he is a part of the government. We saw that highlighted yesterday when the Chief Minister stood up to say the government would be supporting an amendment that had been moved by one of her own members. “The government will support the government.” And here we have the government not supporting the government—or we are not quite sure, because initially it was going to be a bill; now it is going to be an exposure draft.
My point is that this is in the Greens-Labor parliamentary agreement. So if it is not actually a bill being tabled, if it is simply a matter of saying, “It’s some notes, it’s my idea,” get that sorted out within the government. Get the refinement so that at least it is a bill—at the very least it is a bill. But it is a ridiculous process where something that is in the Greens-Labor agreement is subject to negotiation under the Greens-Labor agreement and now we are going to have that negotiation of the Greens-Labor agreement in the parliament.
If I am being asked, as the Leader of the Opposition, to be an umpire between two squabbling children, the two champions of the left in this quasi Greens-Labor government, I think it is ridiculous. It is a nonsense that time be taken up in this place with sorting out the squabbles regarding the Labor-Greens agreement when they should be doing that within their own cabinet processes.
We will not be supporting this suspension. What we will await, if there is FOI reform that is being proposed as a result of the Greens-Labor agreement, is the result of that from the Greens-Labor government. We do not want to have to sort it out for them, with what will be a myriad, no doubt, of various amendments flying from Mr Rattenbury versus Mr Corbell. It is a nonsense, and we will not be supporting the suspension.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (12.27): Once again Mr Hanson has demonstrated an apparent lack of strategic capability on his own part. He says that it is too difficult for him to have to come in here and participate and work as some sort of umpire. What he fails to recognise is that, of course, if there is some disagreement between me and the Labor Party, he actually gets a chance to engage as well. I come from a place that says this is a parliament where people are supposed to come and debate the issues. Apparently, Mr Hanson is too lazy to want to engage in the drafting of legislation.
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