Page 44 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 10 February 2015
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Christopher Pyne. I did laugh when Mr Hanson brought that up, and he made a special effort, as is his wont, to note that in Hansard. But the reason I laughed, for the information of members, was that I was struck by the irony of Mr Hanson bringing this back onto the table, given that on national TV last week Mr Pyne made a comment to Mr Albanese and it is widely believed by most members of the public that Mr Pyne used a well-known euphemism for the exact same profanity that Mr Hanson was referring to in that tweet. So I was laughing at the irony in the fact that Mr Hanson did not seem to see the difference there. Given his special need to put that on the record, I thought it was worth explaining my amused reaction to that matter being brought to the table.
Regarding the Tharwa Drive extension, I think that matter has been well prosecuted here this morning. I think it was a tricky issue. I worked with Minister Burch that week in my capacity as the minister for roads to seek to alleviate the inconvenience that was being caused in Tuggeranong. It was regrettable. I know the stories that people have contacted me about personally, and I certainly worked closely with Minister Burch that week to implement a series of measures to try and alleviate it. I think it is fair to say that most people anticipated that, because it was a quiet time of year, those problems would not arise.
It is worth acknowledging in this place that the works were completed in under seven working days. The road was open by 4 pm on the Tuesday. Personally, I think it probably was the right decision to go for a quick response to that project—get it knocked over in seven days rather than putting in place six or seven weeks of possible disruption to the residents of the Lanyon valley. The unfortunate part was that the right alternative measures were not put in place from the get-go. But those matters were fixed, and I know that Minister Burch worked diligently, in partnership with staff from my directorate in Roads ACT, to get that matter turned around as quickly as possible.
In terms of the particular matters that have been brought up today, they are my views on those matters. The other matters that the Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues have touched on today, around last year’s fringe festival and the like, have been discussed before in this place and my views on those are on the public record. I do not intend to reprosecute them.
Having made those remarks and having given my views, I will not be supporting the motion today. I will be continuing to work with Minister Burch in the cabinet.
Debate interrupted in accordance with standing order 74 and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for a later hour.
Sitting suspended from 12.29 to 2.30 pm.
Questions without notice
Gaming—poker machines
MR HANSON: My question is for the new Chief Minister. Chief Minister, I refer to the Legislation Handbook, which states in relation to regulations:
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