2UE News is reporting that Queensland police have found the deceased body of holidaying ACT chief police officer Audrey Fagan. This appears to have come from an AAP report about half an hour ago.
This is terrible and tragic news, Assistant Commissioner Audrey Fagan has done a fantastic job during her time in charge of the ACT police and will be greatly missed.
The only good aspect of this story is that Assistant Comissioner Fagan’s death is not being treated as suspicious.
My thoughts and prayers at this time are with her family and all of the ACT Police force.
Update 10:26pm: MyTalk News have a different AAP article to the one that crossed the wires about an hour ago. It is roughly the same but gives a bit more detail, including information that AC Fagan was found dead in her Queensland holiday apartment, and that a press release from the Australian Federal Police provided no information about the cause of death. End Update
Update 10:32pm: AFP Press release. It looks like AAP just rewrote the press release to make the details a bit clearer. End Update
Update 11:02pm: 2UE’s 11pm news reports (via 4BC) that AC Fagan’s body was found on Hayman Island, one of the 70 islands in the Cumberland Island group on the Great Barrier Reef. End Update
Update 11:26pm: The Daily Telegraph is reporting the sad news that Queensland police are “considering the possibility of suicide”. This is a very sad revelation and I can only hope it turns out to be a fruitless line of investigation. End Update
Samuel
Image Source: Australian Federal Police/Commonwealth of Australia
I’ve had some time to digest the updates to the ACTION timetables which I mentioned not that long ago. As expected the updates are paltry and minimal, but probably the best that can be done without creating an entirely new timetable.
The good news is that these changes are, according to my sources, interim changes, and a completely new timetable with proper service levels is on the way. I don’t really have a timeframe for it yet as these sort of changes always take quite a bit of wrangling between ACTION’s relatively incompetent timetabling system, ACTION management and the Transport Workers Union.
At an educated guess, I’d say late November or early December, and considering that my last educated guess was only twenty minutes out, I’d rate my guess a 90% chance of being accurate.
The change is supposed to happen this year, one can only hope.
2CC’s drive show has gained a computer segment, Wednesday afternoons at 3:30pm (I’m making an educated guess on the time). Mike Welsh will be joined by Peter Saville who regular listeners may recall from his previous work on 2CC’s drive show in 2003. People from Mike’s old stomping ground of Tasmania might also remember Peter from his work with ABC Local Radio in Tasmania.
Seeing as an email I didn’t send to Mike Jeffreys somehow got in to his hands and was subsequently read out on the air on 2CC, I might as well publish the information here. The more public the information is, the harder it will be for ACTION or Territory and Municipal Services to change their minds.
It would appear that the government want ACTION to come up with a new set of timetables to expand services in the middle of the day, before the end of the school holidays. Considering that it generally takes months of wrangling between the Transport Workers Union and ACTION for any timetable change to occur, I find the deadline amusing, none the less the plan makes sense.
At the moment a lot of drivers have a split shift where they spend a couple hours on “depot duties”, then go home for a while, and come back for the evening peak period. The plan is to turn the depot duties in to extra buses during the day. There are a few issues with making the new shifts work as ACTION have sold quite a few buses, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a new timetable by the end of next month.
According to a slightly confusing ABC News article, ACT Industrial Relations Minister, Andrew Barr, has announced that Melbourne Cup day will be a public holiday in the ACT. This is apparently a replacement for the Union Picnic day which was scrapped by the federal government.
I have no problem with the extra public holiday per se as I think our public holidays are too heavily consolidated in the December-April period as it is, but not even Melbourne gets the full day off for the Melbourne Cup…it’s a half-day holiday down there. Everywhere else in Australia the Melbourne Cup is an event in which people get to have a nice friendly fun afternoon with their work colleagues or whoever else happens to be nearby, and people are free to ignore the event if they so desire. Melbourne Cup day is a very special day on the work calendar, but work still gets done…the workplace might grind to a halt for three minutes and be slower than usual for about an hour, but it is still a productive day, and generally quite a happy day. It has its own culture which has built up over the years.
The only reason the public holiday works in Melbourne is because Flemington race course is in Melbourne. Admittedly other race courses around the country have celebrations and show the race on the big screen, but it doesn’t have the same atmosphere as Flemington.
Having a public holiday anywhere else in the country is only going to ruin the culture of a special day on the work calendar, a day which promotes work place bonding without the peculiar and strenuous training sessions in funny hotel conference rooms that some businesses seem to think help their employees. It will also make the day a lot less special for everyone as schools and many other things close on public holidays. Parents won’t have the opportunity to easily get together with friends as they will have to look after the kids, and those who have to work on the public holiday will be very unlikely to have many, if any, people to share the day with.
Well done Andrew Barr, you have destroyed the Melbourne Cup, I hope you’re pleased with yourself.
I do have to wonder how much Andrew Barr had to drink before providing the following quote to the ABC:
I don’t think that productivity on the first Tuesday in November tends to be fairly low and so I think of all the days in the calendar to be able to find a replacement day, this is the appropriate day.
So productivity on Melbourne Cup day is not low, but we need to write-off the day anyway?
Incidentally, in case you’re wondering, Cyclone Katy, during her time as the Industrial Relations Minister, added two public holidays to the 2005 post-Christmas period, and in doing so gave us all a lesson in the law in a press release:
“This year Christmas Day and New Years Day both fall on a Sunday,” Ms Gallagher said. “Under the Holidays Act, the public holiday for both days automatically moves to the following Monday. This would have meant that Christmas Day and New Years Day would not have been observed as public holidays for this year, along the same lines as last year where the two days fell on a Saturday.”
“I am authorised to declare additional public holidays under the Act, and the ACT Government has decided that given the current climate in which ACT workers have a real risk of losing their leave entitlements under the proposed federal industrial relations laws, and the special significance of these two days, they ought to be observed as public holidays,” Ms Gallagher said.
Cyclone Katy’s extra holidays were designed to bring us in line with our surrounding neighbour New South Wales:
These arrangements will ensure that the ACT is consistent with New South Wales and Victoria, which have also ensured that trading over these two days is treated consistently with public holidays.
But New South Wales works on Melbourne Cup day.
Andrew, when you first joined the legislative assembly and were instantly handed the education portfolio I thought you were just hired as a scapegoat for that failing portfolio…but today Andrew, you have proven yourself as a complete and utter incompetent fool.
I mentioned it the other day, but just to make sure that the people who keep searching for it actually find what they’re looking…Canberra’s 1053 2CA are not covering the AFL this year. If you want to hear the AFL on the radio then you will have to make do with the ABC coverage which I don’t think is quite as much fun.
Alternatively, 3AW, who 2CA sourced the AFL from for the last two years, still broadcast it, and they have a webstream. See their website or the AFL website for details.
I’ll write the statistical rundown shortly (some time in the next 24 hours), but first an opinion piece.
Canberra’s first radio ratings have been released for the year, and I can only say that I’m shocked. The radio station for people without ears has won the ratings (666 ABC Canberra), with 18.5% of the audience.
Somewhat surprisingly Canberra’s two FM music stations did quite poorly…they both lost a fair bit of ground. FM 104.7 down to 18.4% from 22.2%, and Mix 106.3 dropping even further to 18% from 22.2% (they were equal leaders last survey).
2CC lost a little bit of ground, 8.9% from 9.3%, which is interesting considering that the programming is an awful lot better than on 666.
JJJ were next, gaining ground to 8.7% from 7.0%, followed by more strong gains for the ABC, Radio National 8.2% from from 5.8%, and Classic FM 7.3% from 4.8%.
2CA were the only commercial music station to gain, 4.3% from 2.9%. I’ll miss the AFL on 2CA this year, but it’s good to see 2CA gaining ground again.
I can honestly say that NewsRadio being the only ABC station to lose ground does not surprise me, it’s a station designed for 15-30 minute listeners and it requires too much attention for most people. It should have stayed on AM and left room for 2CA to move to FM. NewsRadio dropped to 2.7% from 3.1%.
Unlisted stations attracted an audience of 5%.
The amazing swing towards ABC stations in these ratings, and away from the commercial FM stations, indicates to me that the sample group may not have been particularly similar to the one used last time. Perhaps not enough people are receiving the ratings books for the sample groups to be consistent.
Whilst it is possible that this is an accurate reflection of the radio audience in Canberra, I find the large swings just a bit unusual, and I fail to see how such a large number of Canberrans could all change to the ABC (or any other group for that matter) in the one survey. Perhaps these ratings are truly reflective and previous ones weren’t, perhaps it is the other way around, I don’t know. But what I do know is that if these ratings are accurate, that I live in a town filled with a lot of people who don’t use their ears.
I often hear people who visit Canberra saying that Canberra is too hard to get around because they keep getting lost and going around in circles.
The last person I heard saying that was 2UE’s Paul Makin, shortly after 12:30 this morning. Rather than getting in to a debate with him about how much easier it is to get around Canberra than Sydney, I decided to offer him a bit of wisdom…just after 2am.
“You do realise that this is the home of bureaucracy!”
Now if that doesn’t explain why people in Canberra go around in circles, I don’t know what does!
Katy Gallagher was the minister for education when the decision to close Ginninderra District High School and not listen to the public was made, so therefore she is the minister responsible, and given the way the demolition site looks like it has been hit by a cyclone, and the way Katy Gallagher seems to be able to make a mess of just about any portfolio, she is now officially known as Cyclone Katy.
Today is Canberra Day, a public holiday in Canberra to celebrate the naming of Canberra on March 12, 1913, by Lady Denman, wife of then Governor-General Lord Denman.
I, however, am working today, and happily doing so. Canberra Day is of little significance to me these days as it isn’t even remotely close to the actual anniversary of the naming of Canberra (the ACT Government are moving it to the second Monday of March next year, but that’s still not good enough, it should be March 12 every year), and the Balloon Fiesta doesn’t coincide with it any more. I remember when the Balloon Fiesta was a nine-day event which wrapped up on Canberra Day. In recent years it has been moved to April, and now to add insult to injury, Chief Turnip Stanhope has shortened it to a four day event in a vain attempt to plug his budgetary disaster.
You would think that Canberra Day, being the official celebration of the birthday of Canberra would actually contain a celebration…but Skyfire (fireworks for those of you outside Canberra) was held nine days ago, the Balloon Fiesta has moved to April, the multicultural festival takes place during summer (I could be certain that it used to happen in March before the Stanhope government), and we don’t even have a re-enactment of the naming ceremony (could be a tad hard with Parliament House sitting there these days…but why not have it outside the Legislative Assembly).
As far as I’m concerned, Canberra Day is just another generic, pointless, public holiday, much like the Queen’s Birthday in June (she was born in April). I’m more than happy to work today as the day is now completely meaningless as a public holiday.
Apart from which, public holidays like this are strange…why would I want the day off today when nothing useful is open, when I can hang on to the day off for a day when I might actually have a chance of getting something done?
Perhaps somebody was right when they said I was born to be a nutty old man…I just think I’m being logical.
I’m not entirely sure when it failed or why, but the 2CC computer is not getting to air. It’s just the 2UE feed, silence and the emergency tape.
The ad break on the emergency tape is becoming tedious…I think I prefer the silence (but certainly not “The Sounds Of Silence“).
Oh well, this kind of thing once in a while reminds me that I’m listening to automation…and I don’t really care as long as they either fix the computer or find something other than the emergency tape to fill air time when the breakfast show starts.
One of my favourite cafes in Canberra, Cafe Copenhagen in Westfield Woden is the latest victim of Westfield’s “we bought the shopping centre and you have to renovate” syndrome. They will be closed for three weeks after Easter. Apparently Westfield don’t like the column structure and want it removed, they also don’t like the (rather charming in my view) wooden floor…whether this means they just don’t like that it’s starting to creak or they don’t like the look of it is yet to be determined.
I do hope that the renovations don’t tamper with the look of the cafe too much as it has a certain charm to it at the moment, and it would be a pity if it changed very much.
I do hope that Cafe Copenhagen’s friendly, busy staff enjoy the three week break, and I look forward to seeing them, and enjoying their wonderful coffee, custard tarts, apple slices, quiches and more when they reopen. I’m sure it will all taste even better after not having the option of indulging there for three weeks.
Cafe Copenhagen’s coffee and multitasking whiz, and longest serving employee Alice, with morning and evening assistant Peter.
Or perhaps I should have said “An incompetent message from the ACT Government”.
Saturday the 9th of March 2007 doesn’t exist…you can have Friday the 9th or Saturday the 10th.
“Tow away-fines will be reinforced”. It’s good to see that the Chief Minister is inventing a new dialect of English, pity it doesn’t make any sense. I’d also love to know how you reinforce a fine.
Incidentally, the sign is at the Ainslie Avenue end of Kogarah Lane, a lane which is always filled with parked cars. I wonder where, with all the parking restrictions on nearby streets, the government were expecting the cars to be parked during the mysterious no parking period?
I had a chat with Clive Robertson about this sign and he was quite amused, neither of us think anybody could be fined for parking in the no parking zone, as there is no way to know when the no parking period was.
Would anybody care to explain to me why ACT Chief Turnip Jon Stanhope’s verbal attack on former opposition leader Brendan Smyth in question time today has received so little media coverage?
The lead story on 2CC news for most of the afternoon was Jon Stanhope calling Brendan Smyth a slime ball who enjoys being in the gutter and subsequently being reprimanded by the speaker of the assembly Wayne Berry MLA. 2CC reported that Brendan Smyth was disgusted by the outburst.
This was question time, and all of the news outlets had reporters at the assembly today, so why has there been no mention of this outburst on the television news bulletins? I’m not sure about ABC Local Radio but as there is so far nothing on their news website about it I don’t think they’ve covered the story, and I’m almost certain that RiotACT would have covered it if the story had appeared on ABC Local Radio’s news bulletins…so what’s going on? Why has such an unusual (for the Legislative Assembly at least) and newsworthy event gone unnoticed by so much of the local media?
Here is a copy of the transcript from proof hansard, the PDF will be replaced with the final version of weekly hansard at the end of the week.
MR STEFANIAK: My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, where were you on the night of 17 January 2003 when the head of the Emergency Services Bureau was trying to get in touch with you, and what were you doing?
MR STANHOPE: I have to say that I was interested in the contribution that the member for Tuggeranong, Mr Smyth, made to the no-confidence motion last week, in which he dwelt very much on this subject, comfortable as Mr Smyth is with the selling of innuendo, of scuttlebutt and of slime.
MR STEFANIAK: Answer the question.
MR STANHOPE: Well, it is not that simple, actually. It is a question in relation to which one really should provide some context around the degree of comfort that Mr Smyth has in getting into the gutter, the slime— Mr Slime Ball from Tuggeranong. He loves it down there in the gutter.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Refer to the member by his name, please. Withdraw that and refer to the member by his name.
MR STANHOPE: I refer to Mr Smyth as Mr Smyth and—
MRS DUNNE: Mr Speaker, he still hasn’t withdrawn.
MR SPEAKER: Withdraw it.
MR STANHOPE: I withdraw it; I was withdrawing it. But it of course does not change my opinion of the member at all, and he knows it.
MRS DUNNE: Mr Speaker, this is entirely disorderly. When a member is asked to withdraw, they have to withdraw, and that’s it— simpliciter, without embellishment.
MR SPEAKER: He has withdrawn.
MR STANHOPE: Mr Smyth is comfortable down there in the gutter. He likes it there, down with the cigarette butts and the dog turds and the wasted life. That is where he is comfortable, and of course it is one of the reasons that his colleagues tipped him out a few months ago— because he really does not have the maturity or the standing or the quality that befits a leader.
MR SPEAKER: Come to the subject of the question, Chief Minister.
MR STANHOPE: I spent that evening with my wife, Robyn, in company with two other people, the reputations of whom or the professions of whom some of course might have a particular issue with. I think it was to these particular points that Mr Smyth was going, of course— the quality, the calibre and the nature of the people and who it was that I might have spent that particular evening with. I spent it with my wife and with a magistrate of the ACT Magistrates Court, and his wife, and— forgive me my sins— with a Catholic priest, the parish priest of St Matthew’s, Page. Mr Smyth, of course, was not looking for an answer that bowled me as actually spending an evening with a magistrate of the Magistrates Court of the ACT or with the parish priest of St Matthew’s, Page. Mr Smyth had other ideas. Mr Smyth has been out there spreading innuendo and slime and slurs and outrageous suggestions— as he did when he put in an FOI request for all of my wife’s travel documents on the one and only occasion when my wife has accompanied me on a spouse-accompanied trip. This is the man who thinks it is appropriate behaviour for a Leader of the Opposition to requisition all of my wife’s travel documents. This is the man that the other Liberals are comfortable with on their back bench.
MR STEFANIAK: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker, under standing order 118A.
MR STANHOPE: Who among you thinks that is appropriate behaviour—
MR STEFANIAK: Pull him in, would you?
MR SPEAKER: Come back to the subject matter of the question.
MR STANHOPE: of a member of your particular party? This is the scuttlebutt. This is the innuendo. This is the slime—
MR SPEAKER: Come back to the subject matter, Chief Minister.
MR STANHOPE: that your colleagues engage in. Which one of you has suffered your spouse or partner having all of their private documents FOIed in relation to any travel involving you in your official capacity— who of you? It is the most shameful behaviour by a despicable little man!
MR STEFANIAK: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Chief Minister, thank you for that explanation— in the 30 seconds that you gave it; I will disregard the rest. Why until now have you been so reluctant to advise the people of Canberra what you were doing when you should have been following the fires closely? Why did you not advise us before now?
MR STANHOPE: Because it was none of your business.
MR STEFANIAK: It has taken you four years.
MR STANHOPE: Because it was none of your business, and it is still none of your business. I only answer today because of the slime that is being perpetrated and spread around Canberra by this colleague of yours— the innuendoes, the doublespeak, the slime, the attacks on my wife and the requisitioning of her travel documents: freedom of information requests in relation to every document associated with her private life and her behaviour. This is what the Liberal Party in this place has reduced itself to. He kept it up last week in the no-confidence motion. You all sat around, all relaxed: “Funny; chuff, chuff; let’s be part of this innuendo”— this slur, this campaign against my wife and my marriage, this suggestion that there was something untoward about my behaviour, which you have gone on and on with.
MR SMYTH: You refused to answer the question.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Smyth!
MR STANHOPE: Because I have a private life that is absolutely none of your business. You have run a four-year campaign about my private life. The questions that you have pursued in relation to my whereabouts on that particular night, on that evening, and the persons in whose company I spent the evening have had a single purpose. It is absolutely and utterly despicable— utterly despicable. Of course, then it was followed up by Mr Smyth and his freedom of information requests— that he has requisitioned: his demand for tabled documents— in relation to my wife’s private life and business.
MR STEFANIAK: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order, again under standing order 118A.
MR SPEAKER: I think the question was “why haven’t you told us up until now?” I think the Chief Minister is trying to tell you.
MR STANHOPE: To the point where I have to say this. I am loath to involve my wife in this; she will be appalled, and perhaps disappointed, that I have breached her privacy in relation to this. But since Mr Smyth conducted his campaign against my wife and her travel, my wife refuses to travel with me. She is not prepared to have her private life and her private affairs submitted to the political point scoring and nastiness of Brendan Smyth. My wife will no longer travel with me because of Mr Smyth’s requisitioning of her personal travel documents, her personal affairs and
her expenditures when she travels on official business with me. That is what Mr Smyth has done. I apologise to my wife for breaching her privacy in this way. It is appalling. I am absolutely appalled that this paragon of virtue— this citizen of Tuggeranong, this pillar of society— thinks that that is appropriate behaviour. It is not. On the night before the fire, I was with my wife, with a magistrate of the ACT Magistrates Court and with a Catholic priest.
MR STEFANIAK: Why didn’t you tell us before now?
MR STANHOPE: Because it is none of your business— because it is none of your business. It is none of your business what I was doing.
MR STEFANIAK: No-one is going to blame you for being with your wife, for goodness sake.
MR STANHOPE: I explained at the time. I said, “I was in my electorate at dinner.”
MRS BURKE: You did not.
MR STANHOPE: Yes, I did.
MS GALLAGHER: Yes, on the north side of Canberra.
MR STANHOPE: My colleagues remember. I was in my electorate on the north side of Canberra at dinner. But that was not sufficient! That was not sufficient! It just excited the dirty mind of Mr Smyth. That just excited the dirty mind, because I would not say I was at dinner with my wife— because it was none of your business. It was not relevant that I involve my wife in this place. Oh, no— a four-year campaign of innuendo, scuttlebutt, doublespeak and plain gossip. Of course it all gets repeated back to me. It is a small town. It is a small place, this. It all gets reported back to me— everything that Mr Smyth says as he goes around town: the destruction of my reputation and that of my marriage and my wife. It is all out there. He is out there talking about it. He is talking it up. I can go and get statutory declarations and affidavits from those to whom Mr Smyth has told this story. That is what we have come to. It was a matter of principle. It is none of your business. My wife is not part of this job.
MRS BURKE: It’s the community’s business.
MR STANHOPE: It is not. Mrs Burke, tell us more about the sexual harassment matter. Come on.
MR STEFANIAK: Oh, here we go. Let’s get grubby, Jon.
MR STANHOPE: Let’s get grubby? Let’s get grubby!
MR STEFANIAK: You are accusing him of it and now you are doing it.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR STANHOPE: I am respecting Mrs Burke’s privacy. Give us the lurid details, Mrs Burke. (Time expired.)
It even continued in to the next question…
MR GENTLEMAN: My question is directed to the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services. I understand that recent criticism of ACTION is misguided, as patronage levels are through the roof. Can you inform the Assembly how many passengers have voted in favour of ACTION by using the new network?
MR SMYTH interjecting—
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Smyth, I challenge you to tell in public what you told your Liberal Party branch about me. I challenge you in public because I would like you to give me a photocopy of your house because I will have it for you.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Hargreaves, come back to the subject matter.
MR HARGREAVES: I certainly will. You just do it and I will take you on.
Considering that the “answer” provided by Jon Stanhope actually answers a question about his whereabouts prior to the 2003 Bushfire, one does have to wonder why at least that bit was of no interest to the local media, if the name calling of Brendan Smyth wasn’t of interest to them.
I am still perplexed as to why Jon Stanhope doesn’t think his whereabouts is the business of his constituents, and I can only assume that, had he been forthcoming with these details, Brendan Smyth would never have tried to work it out by using Freedom Of Information…in fact I’m sure that Mr. Smyth and the Liberal Party would have tried many other ways of working it out before FOIing travel documents of Mr. Stanhope’s wife.
More questions, why is it that Mr. Stanhope can find enough money to erect a statue of the late disgraced Whitlam government minister Al Grassby, but needs to make businesses in Civic pay a levy for the general upkeep of the area…a job which would normally be considered a government responsibility? And why is this kind of levy going to be charged at a varying rate depending on the “rateable” value of their property…surely if this must happen then it should be charged at a flat rate and not be an addition to land tax by another name?
What a peculiar place that Legislative Assembly is.
Well, I hope this is the last thing I will have to write about the “super cell” storm which struck Canberra on Tuesday night (27 February 2007). This article serves as my summary to not only my information on the storm, but my pick of the photos floating about on other websites about the storm.
But first, the local television news coverage was quite excellent last night, firstly at 6pm it was Win News with Jessica Good once again filling in for Peter Leonard. Features pictures of the storm, the cleanup, and the toll to many businesses.
Then at 7pm, ABC News with Virginia Haussegger, features more pictures of the storm and the cleanup, a bit more info than Win on the ESA’s excuse for not warning anyone, and also pictures (sourced from Seven News) of a similar storm which hit Sydney yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon.
My description of the events of the storm, as well as photos of the aftermath can be found here.
There are some very good photos on other websites as well, click the links to go to their photos. Ampersand Duck Loadedog (Warning: Photos towards the end of the gallery are “not safe for work”, eg. would warrant an adult only rating if it were television, or possibly a late night SBS spot). The RiotACT 2 Blog or not to Blog Two peas, no pod
Thank you to everyone who has emailed me to thank me for my photos, and a really big thank you to everyone for not sending me the set of photos that were emailed to just about every other website in Canberra.
MR STEFANIAK: My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, where were you on the night of 17 January 2003 when the head of the Emergency Services Bureau was trying to get in touch with you, and what were you doing?
MR STANHOPE: I have to say that I was interested in the contribution that the member for Tuggeranong, Mr Smyth, made to the no-confidence motion last week, in which he dwelt very much on this subject, comfortable as Mr Smyth is with the selling of innuendo, of scuttlebutt and of slime.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Refer to the member by his name, please. Withdraw that and refer to the member by his name.
MRS DUNNE: Mr Speaker, he still hasn’t withdrawn.
MR SMYTH: You refused to answer the question.
MRS BURKE: You did not.
MS GALLAGHER: Yes, on the north side of Canberra.
MR GENTLEMAN: My question is directed to the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services. I understand that recent criticism of ACTION is misguided, as patronage levels are through the roof. Can you inform the Assembly how many passengers have voted in favour of ACTION by using the new network?
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Smyth, I challenge you to tell in public what you told your Liberal Party branch about me. I challenge you in public because I would like you to give me a photocopy of your house because I will have it for you.