Page 659 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 1990
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MS FOLLETT: You are a disgrace, too.
MR SPEAKER: Please proceed, Ms Follett.
MS FOLLETT: The reception that they get at the football shows that the Government is reviled by the community and is bringing the whole notion of self-government into disrepute. Its performance, or rather its lack of it, is becoming a scandal in this community. I know that is not welcome advice to it, but it is undoubtedly true. With the confusion and the uncertainty that it has caused the community by its constant threats of cuts to services and staffing it is disastrous.
Its published record of achievement - what a misnomer - is a tissue of lies, half-truths and stolen achievements of the Federal or the ACT Labor Government. On 14 December, in this Assembly I said that the Liberal Alliance Government grew out of nothing more than a cynical power grab, and its inaction to date endorses this view. This is a lazy government that is interested only in the perks of office. The way that this Government has dealt with this Assembly - - -
Ms Maher: Perks of office? I do not think there are any, are there?
Dr Kinloch: What perks? Name one.
Ms Maher: There are no perks.
MR SPEAKER: Order! While we have silence I ask Mr Berry to refer to standing order 40. He seems to misplace his standing orders occasionally. Please proceed.
Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, I looked at you, but you were not looking.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, certainly. Thank you, Mr Berry, for raising the eyebrows on occasion as well. Ms Follett, please proceed.
MS FOLLETT: The way in which the Government has dealt with this Assembly has been nothing short of atrocious. Time after time we have seen it unable to manage even the meagre amount of business that it has managed to introduce. The Government whips act as mere messengers who know nothing about Government business and who have no power to negotiate.
Constant last-minute changes to the program and confusion amongst Government members have been a feature of this place in the past few weeks. This morning was a case in point. In the five minutes before the Assembly sat this morning we had no fewer than three changes of plan on the Government's part as to how to deal with an item of private members' business. It was disgraceful. The Chief Minister sets the standard with his constant personal insults by way
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