Page 775 - Week 05 - Thursday, 6 July 1989
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Mr Moore: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. When the Labor Party has put this motion forward and then Labor members continually interrupt, that of course makes it difficult for my colleague to concentrate on making sure that he manages to speak to the topic.
MR COLLAERY: The intervention by my colleague indicates where the intellectual capacities in this chamber lie, and I thank Mr Moore for helping me to get back on the path. I was going to say that recently I got some more bedtime reading. It is called A History of the German Resistance 1933-1945. That is a noble text. Few Australians know that from the year 1933 there was an active body of community members - - -
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Collaery, please address the motion.
MR COLLAERY: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Residents Rally at the moment is becoming a resistance party to the party machines. It is having to battle this one alone.
A member: When are you going underground?
Mr Whalan: Good line.
MR COLLAERY: I am very saddened to see that I carry this motion on my own. This cowardly attempt to frighten me off will never succeed. I can assure you I will never be intimidated by the likes of those facing me, and in particular Mr Whalan and Mrs Grassby, the supreme tacticians, the very competent strategists they are, but they have failed this time. We have eloquent evidence of the concerns raised by the Rally. We have the first report of the ACT Administration on fraud control initiatives. It is there, and it deals largely with the blue-collar concerns of the Administration. The introduction to that report indicates very clearly:
In September 1987 and February 1988 the [Federal] Government decided that all Commonwealth agencies should pursue a systematic approach to fraud and bring forward a fraud control plan, for which ministerial approval should be sought.
The Commonwealth established, to my knowledge, a fraud control committee. Heads of department, including the heads of the Social Security Department, met and decided to develop a stratagem and other tactics to deal with fraud in the system - fraud being perpetrated both within and out of the system. This is an enlightening document. It is a document that sets the stage for a greater expansion of our awareness of fraud in government. Those who run government must set the standard, and the fact is that Ministers move to a new podium, which means that their conduct must be beyond reproach on issues involving the discharge of their office. It is not appropriate for the Rally to learn that a person in this city is saying he has got the section 19 contract, that he has got the casino job.
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