BURNSIDE COUNCIL

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:58): I have a supplementary question arising out of the minister's answer.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Lucas has a further supplementary, and I must remind the Hon. Mr Lucas and the honourable minister that they should not be debating across the chamber.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Hear, hear! Thank you, Mr President. Thank you for your protection. Will the minister take on notice and check with his advisers as to whether they had actually read the report before they advised him that it was going to be too difficult to 'de-strand' (whatever that means) Mr MacPherson's report?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:59): Mr President, I do not think it takes a Rhodes scholar to understand that, if you have done hundreds of pages of a report and the court then narrows the terms of reference down by almost, well, probably, about one-fifth, to continue on with that report without starting over again, they have to go into that report, and all the evidence taken in regard to the terms of reference are made invalid and have to be de-stranded. I will look up 'de-strand' in the dictionary and I will give you its meaning. You ought to read the court's decision and then you would understand what it means. Mr President, I have not read the report. I did not need to read the report for me to make my decision, as simple as that.