Page 2377 - Week 11 - Thursday, 2 November 1989
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DR KINLOCH (11.02): I firstly endorse Mr Kaine's tribute to Mr Jensen, who carried such a burden on this committee. I appreciate that Mr Jensen and I are members of the same group, and I do not want to see this as a piece of special comment, but of course we also could see what he was doing, day by day by day. I want to assure you that it was a "first thing in the morning, last thing at night" exercise which he undertook while continuing his other duties. I was enormously grateful to him. Some of us were not able to be there at all times because of other commitments, and I would like to return to that in a minute.
I would also endorse the remarks about Ms Malmberg, especially at a time when, after all, she was showing her art work in an exhibition that was on at the same time. Perhaps, at some time, we might ask Ms Malmberg to bring her quilts to the Assembly.
Thinking of the staff, I felt all the time what enormous good humour there was. We heard that yesterday in connection with another committee, and this was so in this case as well. It does make life on the first floor very much more pleasurable for us all knowing the good relations that exist between members and administrative staff.
I would like to go beyond that tribute, however, to look at the comment on page 2, the acknowledgement, and to add to that acknowledgement. It says at 1.12 on page 2:
The Committee appreciates the cooperation and assistance provided to it by all Ministers and ACT Government Service officials during the inquiry.
That is not just a gesture, Mr Speaker. I think in particular of that marathon effort that went over two days. I commend Mr Whalan for that. It was quite extraordinary. All of us who were interested in education were particularly interested in that day, and I must say it was an extraordinary performance that we ought to remember with considerable pleasure, especially as it ended with a birthday party.
In connection with that, I was there most of the day for education, although not on other days, and I believe that one good thing for the members was that we also got to meet, face to face, the administrative staff who were putting together this material and had a chance to talk to them directly. I found that to be one of the most useful things about the whole exercise. At last we were talking to some of the public officials. That was of great personal benefit, I thought, for all of us.
I would now like to return to the questions of the time frame, the problem of sittings and the length of time - all matters raised by Mr Kaine. This year of course was, if you like, on the run. We were doing it on the run. It had not happened before, and it suddenly came up. I endorse and want to stress the need in future to make sure that the
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