Page 192 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 1990
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MR SPEAKER: Order! Please proceed, Mr Duby.
MR DUBY: I prefer the name the Snow-White committee, to be honest, but that is neither here nor there. Mr Speaker, no-one seems to dispute the statement made by the Chief Minister in his ministerial statement on Tuesday, that the ACT is facing a severe economic crisis, that we are looking down the barrel at a lack of $100m. That is what it boils down to. There is no question about the fact that we are in dire straits. Apparently no-one has disputed this fact. No-one has said "That figure is wrong. It is not $100m; it is only $80m", or "No, it is not $80m; it is $60m". So $100m seems to be the figure that is generally accepted by all members of this Assembly.
Mr Kaine: Senator Walsh said that.
MR DUBY: That is right; it was said by Senator Walsh of the Federal Labor Government. No-one from the other side of the Assembly would dare dispute Senator Walsh's figures. What other options have come from that side of the house, Mr Speaker? None. It is too hard! Sweep it under the carpet! Let us not worry about it! Let us not concern ourselves with the future well-being of the ACT! Let us go along a happy path, pretending that maybe one day the white knight will come riding down from the hill with a big bag of dollars! That simply is not going to happen.
Mrs Grassby: Mr Speaker, that's what Mr Duby suggested before.
MR DUBY: No-one has disputed that whatsoever. Secondly, a point that has been made continually in the heckles from that side is about 3,000 jobs. The 3,000 jobs figure quoted by Mr Kaine publicly on radio, I am sure, was simply allegorical.
One hundred million dollars is the equivalent of 3,000 jobs in the ACT. When people throw around big figures, such as $100m, other people do not understand what it means. Put in real terms, it is 3,000 jobs in our community. Suddenly people have started taking notice; they have started paying attention; they have started realising that there is a problem which has to be addressed. Once again, though, what constructive advice do we get from the other side of the house? None whatsoever. I wonder how many people have read the Chief Minister's statement.
Mr Moore made great truck of the fact that no-one from the union movement is on the board. There is no-one from the environment movement on it either; there is no-one from a whole range of movements on it.
Mr Moore: That's why I suggested restructuring it.
MR DUBY: You know what happens when you restructure committees. You wind up with a - - -
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