Page 2686 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 August 2015
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the way. His calls on the government are a watered down version of the proposed amendment that I have circulated which I hope members have had a chance to look at.
For far too long Mr Barr has treated the electorate at large with contempt. He thinks they will swallow anything that he throws at them. I think he is in for a shock because, as has already been proven, the Manuka community, the Mocca community and the south side community, are starting to understand Mr Barr’s tactics and they are not shallow, as Mr Barr thinks they are. The community will not wear the lines the Chief Minister keeps pedalling without evidence. Repeating a mistruth does not make it a fact. Too much of Mr Barr’s amendment is based on unknowns or half truths.
Mr Rattenbury well knows his proposed amendment would have been better. His office and my office had discussed it at length and had in fact agreed to accept Mr Rattenbury’s amendment. We agreed with all of his amendment. The Canberra Liberals do not want to insult the communities on the south side which are concerned with this issue and we cannot accept Mr Barr’s amendment. We will oppose it.
On the other hand, speaking to my amendment which has been circulated, Mr Rattenbury said something interesting. He said he does not care whose amendment gets up. The fact is that the amendment that he drafted was obviously drafted with careful consideration and a lot of pressure from the community—and everyone agreed with it; it was well accepted by the community and by all of us—and all of a sudden he has accepted a watered down version of it. Mr Rattenbury, you will have a chance of course to decide on your initial amendment, which we all agreed with, as it is now before you.
I also do not care whose amendment gets up. I am quite happy to put your amendment forward as my amendment and I will welcome your support for your amendment. It is about time that the community saw just what a wishy-washy member we have. He waxes lyrical that he is in cabinet, he is part of the government and he has got concerns that he wants to make sure the community understands but when it came down to the final point he never, ever in the last three years stuck by those words.
At the last minutes it is always: Mr Doszpot or Mr Hanson or Ms Jones, whatever they are putting up, “Yes, I really like that but ultimately I have got to vote with the government.” That is basically what he is saying. And that is what Mr Shane Rattenbury has proven to us here once again today.
Last night we had an amendment that we felt we could agree with and that would bring some clarity, some certainty to the community. This morning the first that I heard of this acceptance by Mr Rattenbury was about two minutes before the Assembly started when he said to me, “Of course, I am very happy with Mr Barr’s amendment and I will be backing it.” I was surprised. I guess people whom I spoke to last night would have known that we did not fully expect Mr Rattenbury to carry through. We were hoping, we were desperately hoping, that Mr Rattenbury would actually be as good as his word. But that certainly did not carry through here this morning.
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