[FMX] I have a colon problem

programming flash
1

var helpContents : XML = new XML;
helpContents.ignoreWhite = true;

when checking the syntax for errors I get this message:

Scene=Scene 1, Layer=Layer 1, Frame=1: Line 2: ‘;’ expected
var helpContents : XML = new XML;

Is this a version issue or sum’t? As I have a load of these colons in my code and each time I get the same error…