They started it...

Hon PETER FOSS: [...] The reason I am asking these questions is obvious. The minister knows exactly why; he just does not want to say it. He almost gags on admitting that this Bill is inconsistent with and amends the Electoral Distribution Act. The minister will not say it, because if he does not say it, it will not happen. However, he looks a bit like Basil Fawlty. Do not mention the law! It is very hard sometimes not to mention the law.

Hon Kim Chance: Especially when you goosestep!

Hon PETER FOSS: I am glad I am providing amusement -

Hon N.D. Griffiths: You are.

Hon PETER FOSS: The minister is too. I pose this question -

Hon N.D. Griffiths: You are good at posing.

Subject: Electoral Amendment Bill 2001 [Legislative Council - Committee]

Date: 6 December 2001

Hansard reference: pp. 6557 [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament

Behind bars

Mr BIRNEY: [...] I would like to address a couple of other issues but, as I have run out of time, I am sure the Deputy Premier wants to say a few words.

Mr Ripper: I could sit quietly and see if you are given a further opportunity to speak.

Mr JOHNSON: I would like to hear more from the member for Kalgoorlie. He has a great interest in this Bill and the upper House’s amendments.

Mr McGowan interjected.

Mr JOHNSON: I am absolutely passionate. The member for Kalgoorlie has a lot of knowledge, because Kalgoorlie is very famous for its public drinking houses.

Ms MacTiernan: I thought you were going to say he has a lot of knowledge because he has been thrown out of a lot of pubs!

Mr JOHNSON: Not at all. The member for Kalgoorlie is an extremely competent businessman and has run a very good business in Kalgoorlie.

Ms MacTiernan: It must be only meetings he gets thrown out of.

Mr JOHNSON: The member is concerned for the people in Kalgoorlie, because it has a pub on every corner. I have been to Kalgoorlie only half a dozen times, and I have been in only a couple of the pubs. I am not a big drinker, and I have never been thrown out of a pub. It is important that we hear from the member for Kalgoorlie, if only for the benefit of the member for Armadale. I am not sure that she understands this Bill. I want her to understand this Bill, because it relates to heavy drinking. It is important that every member of the House know about that.

Ms MacTiernan: Absolutely. It is good that your side of the House recognises that it might have some issues in that area.

Mr JOHNSON: I think the issues are on the minister’s side of the House.

Ms MacTiernan: We are seeking to understand some of the behaviour on your side of the House.

Mr JOHNSON: The minister can drink me under the table any day. I am not a heavy drinker.

Mr Marshall: Can you hold your drink?

Mr JOHNSON: I can certainly hold my drink.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Members, I bring your attention back to the debate.

Mr JOHNSON: The member for Kalgoorlie is making a fantastic contribution to the debate on this Bill because he has a wide knowledge about not only this area but also many other areas.

Mr McGowan: Are you saying he is also knowledgeable about prostitution?

Mr JOHNSON: He is very knowledgeable about many things. He is a jewel in our crown.

Mr Ripper: You have convinced me; I really want to hear from the member for Kalgoorlie!

Mr JOHNSON: I have achieved something today. I am absolutely passionate. I hope that the member for Kalgoorlie continues his remarks and enlightens not only members on this side of the House but also certain members on the other side of the House.

Mr BIRNEY: I thank the member for Hillarys. I was not intending to continue, but the member has inspired me to once more bring some issues to the Deputy Premier’s attention.

Subject: Liquor Licensing Amendment Bill 2001 [Legislative Assembly - Council's Amendments]

Date: 28 November 2001

Hansard reference: pp. 6021 - 6022 [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament, kalgoorlie

Below the thunders of the upper deep

Mr KUCERA: [...] Members should look at the crest of the House. Yesterday, the member for Nedlands quoted the law, which she is very fond of doing. I ask the member for Moore what honi soit qui mal y pense means.

Mr McNee: What are you asking me for?

Mr KUCERA: How many years has the member sat in this place under that crest?

Mr McNee: What sort of rubbish are you trying to drive home now?

Mr KUCERA: Honi soit qui mal y pense - evil be to him who evil thinks.

Mr McNee: It only happens when good people do nothing.

Mr KUCERA: Evil be to him who evil thinks. I love waking up the member for Moore. Mr Speaker, did you ever read that wonderful book by John Wyndham, The Kraken Awakes? We have a kraken in the House. We have moved on in this world since 1592.

Mr Logan: Some of us have.

Mr KUCERA: Yes. In fact, some of us were here then.

Subject: Acts Amendment (Lesbian and Gay Law Reform) Bill 2001 [Legislative Assembly - Second Reading]

Date: 6 December 2001

Hansard reference: pp. 6646 [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament

Straight to video sequel

following on from this...

HON B.K. DONALDSON (Agricultural) [12.03 pm]: [...] I was somewhat amused the other day when the President gave a small commercial to inform members, quite rightly, of the videotapes of members’ speeches that are available at a cost of $22. My imagination started to run fairly wild, and I wondered whether in years to come a pattern would emerge in this House with the President announcing the daily specials from the dining room, the souvenir shop and possibly even from the bar in the form of packaged wines and beers. However, heaven forbid, my imagination went even wilder -

The PRESIDENT: Steady, member, steady!

Hon B.K. DONALDSON: I wondered whether we would see the day when the President would interrupt the debate at the end of an hour and say, “This hour has been proudly supported by so and so”; and I thought of Joe Bloggs’ hot air balloon safaris, for argument’s sake. The mind really boggles at what we might see one day.

Hon N.D. Griffiths: I might order a videotape of this speech.

Hon B.K. DONALDSON: It even goes further. We might have a situation like the one with Australian Football League teams and everyone else who goes onto a sporting ground these days, where we cannot see their uniforms because of all the logos of the companies that sponsor them. I guess it would never come to that, but it did give me food for thought.

Subject: Address-in-Reply [Legislative Council - Motion]

Date: 28 June 2001

Hansard reference: pp. 1530 [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament

Adjournment of a thousand miles...

Hon B.K. DONALDSON: [...] Hon George Cash is one of the most multiskilled members of this Parliament. In the four years that Hon George Cash occupied the Chair that you now occupy, Mr President, he was fettered in making comments, and I noted the other day his excitement at the freedom that he now enjoys. Hon George Cash is an excellent debater and a very intelligent person, and his contribution to this House will be of great value.

Hon N.D. Griffiths: Did he write this speech?

Hon B.K. DONALDSON: No. I also congratulate the ministers: Hon Kim Chance, the Leader of the House; Hon Tom Stephens; and my very good friend Hon Nick Griffiths.

Hon N.D. Griffiths: You can now read the part that I wrote!

Hon B.K. DONALDSON: I thank Hon Nick Griffiths for his contribution now that I have had another quick look at it.
[...]
I hope that the new members on both sides of the House have an enjoyable experience in this House. They will learn that there may be a division down the middle of the Chamber, but generally they will have a most enjoyable time in this place, as most of us get on well together. There has been some good debate in this House over time. People often ask me how we can have a worthwhile debate at three o’clock or four o’clock in the morning.

Hon N.F. Moore: With some difficulty.

Hon B.K. DONALDSON: With great difficulty. However, I remember some good debates at that time of the morning when members got their second wind in this place. I used to get annoyed when the House was wound up just before 6.00 am and we missed out on breakfast. The worst aspect of that was that most members got sucked in to stay until breakfast. I remember the first time that we sat all night when Hon George Cash told us there would be no charge for breakfast. That was not the case and we got the bill. I remember there being no marmalade for Hon Max Evans; therefore, he brought his own jar of marmalade into the House because he loved marmalade on his toast.

Hon N.D. Griffiths: You have spoken about Hon George Cash. Do you remember the occasion when he commenced the adjournment debate and then concluded it by saying, “I move that the House do not adjourn”?

Hon B.K. DONALDSON: Yes, these were very enjoyable times. I hope the new members who came into this place after the last election can enjoy the experiences that we have had. There will be some unpleasant times but that is the nature of the beast.

Subject: Address-in-Reply [Legislative Council - Motion]

Date: 28 June 2001

Hansard reference: pp. 1530 - 1531 [online (pdf): p. 1530 / p. 1531]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament

Farewell to a free speech...

THE PRESIDENT (Hon J.A. Cowdell): Normally on a Thursday we would proceed to the consideration of committee reports, but we do not have any reports for consideration. Before we proceed to orders of the day I have a commercial. I have been advised that all Council proceedings are now videotaped and that members may order a copy of their speeches at a cost of $22 each, or a copy of Hon Peter Foss’s speech if they did not get the point earlier in the day.

Hon Derrick Tomlinson: For $66.

The PRESIDENT: I inform members of that excellent service that is now available.

Subject: Videotaping of Proceedings [Legislative Council - Statement by President]

Date: 21 June 2001

Hansard reference: pp. 1285 [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament

Before Greenough, there was...

MR OMODEI (Warren-Blackwood) [12.53 pm]: It is grand final time again in the lower south west and I have penned the following prose, with apologies to Banjo. It goes like this -


It was somewhere down the country in the land of tall, tall trees,
They formed an institution called “The Lower South West Football League.”
The stock are hard and tough and wiry, the types that never say die,
From stockmen, cauli growers, tree pluckers, spud growers, timbermen, with an odd Greenie thrown in just to have a try.
It is the mill town boys again, Southerners from Pembi, Northcliffe and Quinninup and Deanmill,
From Manji, the Mill and Dingup who will fight this battle royal till they die.
Then there will be the umpires, their eyes dull, their heads flat, with absolutely no brains at all, all trying to ruin the game.
The boys from the tall timber country will make the AFL look tame.
It will be hard and rough and bloody as the struggle ebbs and flows,
The result of the battle still no-one knows.
And all the cracks will gather for the fray,
The oldies from Pembi, there will be Cooda, Foxy, Dan, Luz, Stoich, Ginge and Johnno and maybe Flick and Johnny T. too.
From the Mill there will be Harv, Boomer, Massey, Spiro, Peo, and maybe Cooky and Tutty too, hoping to see the game through.
But when all the dust has settled and the siren sound long gone,
It will be Giaco, Gibbo and the East and Moloney boys fighting for the glory,
Or Della, Gilly, Cozzi, the Ditas and all the Ohs who will be victorious.
And when all the dust has settled and all the supporters gone home,
The Deanmill and the Southerners boys will crack a can or two and reflect upon the game.


I wish brothers Danny and Peter Lunardi all the best for the game on Sunday. I think it will be a great event.

Subject: Lower South West Football Grand Final [Legislative Assembly - Statement]

Date: 20 September 2001

Hansard reference: p. 4126 [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament, omodei, prose, football

No tackle, however

MR McGOWAN (Rockingham) [9.32 pm]: I will be handling this Bill on behalf of the Government because the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is a member of the other place and his representative in this Chamber, his parliamentary secretary, the member for Cockburn, is absent and will not be able to deal with it.

Mr Carpenter: There is something fishy about that.

Mr McGOWAN: That could be true. Maybe he is the one that got away.

Mr Carpenter: Just as long as you do not attempt to gut the Bill; I am only baiting the member and he has taken it hook, line and sinker.

Mr McGOWAN: There is no doubt about that -

Mr Carpenter: What I am afraid of is that he is completely out of his depth.

Mr McGOWAN: There is no doubt that the Minister for Education is all washed up.

Mr Carpenter: What we need here is protection against the sharks in this region, so I hope that that is included in the Bill.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Rockingham might like to address the second reading.

Mr Carpenter: He is having a whale of a time.

Mr McGOWAN: I am looking forward to getting on with the Bill. It is very interesting and listening to the Minister for Education -

Mr Carpenter: He might be looking forward to it, but he is behaving like a stunned mullet.

Mr McGOWAN: The Minister for Education is behaving like an old fishwife in his remarks about this Bill.

Subject: Fish Resources Management Amendment Bill 2001 [Legislative Assembly - Second Reading]

Date: 12 December 2001

Hansard reference: p. 7048 [online (pdf)]

Tags: fish, sharks, puns, parliament, perth, state government, wa