Page 3001 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 5 December 1989
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Mr Humphries: It is your turn.
Mr Kaine: You have the floor.
MR WOOD: Well, what a lack of confidence! It is not surprising that that is the case. Ten days ago I asked the leaders of the Rally and of the Liberals why this motion of no confidence contained no justification for their actions. It was a remarkable motion. It was a bare motion. There was no flesh on it. The arguments were bare, as the background was. They did not have any reasons then, and they do not have any reasons today. They have had 10 days to think about it. It seems to me they need something like two and a half years more to think about it and to get their act together.
Mr Collaery, a short time ago, outlined the way that he developed this motion. He described a train of events. He is simply inaccurate in what he said. Let me give you the example. He said that, after careful thought, after discussion, after conference with his people, he issued instructions to prepare the documentation for the action. What documentation was that? Three lines of handwriting! That was the documentation. All the careful thought went into that.
That tells you how puerile his argument is. What documentation, Mr Collaery? What nonsense! There was nothing there. So much for the train of events that led to this. I will tell you later on what that train of events was, but I will save it for a short while. Let us look at something else. He says, "Open, consultative government was a joke". Well, I am afraid the joke is on you, Mr Collaery.
I will wager that, if this motion goes ahead, you people will close up. You will change the practices that Rosemary Follett has put into place. Will you give us open, consultative government? Will you give us a government, as this one, that shares? Let us wait and see about that. We had a budget which was open and to which you were unable, because of your lack of knowledge of procedures, to contribute; but we had an open budget process. We have had open planning processes. We have had members fully briefed on all sorts of issues. And the best you can come up with is to say that we have not had a consultative government. What happened when we brought down the planning documents? Mr Collaery said, "We don't need consultation; we need action". Make up your mind.
But let me go on to one of the most outrageous things that Mr Collaery said. He alleged that there were threats against the Speaker. No doubt the Speaker might come in and say something - and, Mr Speaker, please interject, if you wish, or come in and speak later and tell me if I am wrong in what I now say. Mr Collaery said that we were going to starve the Speaker. What do the actions of the Speaker, with the support of members obviously, tell us?
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