Page 228 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
they can go. Mr Kaine, if there is duplication, we will all agree with you that it should be removed; we would have no argument with that.
Let us look at this figure of 3,000 jobs. I should indicate at the same time that, as we can see in the Federal administration, the ALP is not opposed to restructuring in changing circumstances if this is necessary. But 3,000 is the figure. It is not Mr Duby's figure. I heard Mr Duby stand up there in the debate this morning and deny that there were 3,000 jobs to go. That is right. You contested that point of view and you can interject from there if you wish.
Mr Duby: I said "sacked".
MR WOOD: Yes, all right, sacked.
Mr Duby: That is better.
MR WOOD: He used the word "allegorical". Now, I thought at first that that did not make sense and I thought he said alogical, which means lacking in logic and it made sense. I went to my dictionary and this is what allegorical says:
A presentation of an abstract or spiritual meaning under concrete or material forms.
In other words, when he said the Chief Minister was being allegorical he was saying that there is no substance to the words. But, Mr Duby, you might explain to me now, since you are back in your seat, do you think 3,000 jobs will go? Not sacked perhaps; but in five years do you agree that 3,000 jobs will go?
Mr Duby: I am not debating the point, Bill.
MR WOOD: You are not debating it. Are you are agreeing with it? It is an interesting point. I wonder whether the Minister for Finance and the Treasurer, two different people, have the same view on this, because my very clear impression then and now of what Mr Duby was saying was that he did not agree with the Treasurer. It was the tone of his voice, it was the comment, and he will not come out now and say, one way or the other.
Mr Kaine: That is drawing the bow pretty long, Bill.
MR WOOD: I do not think so. I am actually afraid that there is some substance behind his words, that 3,000 jobs might go, and that worries me. There is a widely held perception in this Assembly on that side, and across the community sometimes, that there is a lot of fat in the ACT administration - that it is some sort of obese creature that can be trimmed. I do not think that is the case. I think what the Chief Minister is about to do is to hack into some vital tissue and we will finish up with some anorexic entity that can hardly survive. We are close to
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .