Page 671 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 1990
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MR WOOD: Well, you have expressed the view, and you have used those terms that when your Government determines its budget arrangements, it is all back to square one. Every program is of equal worth or of no worth, depending how you want to put it - every program has to justify its existence.
Mr Kaine: That is right.
MR WOOD: All right. That is right. But what do you do? You take no notice of that. You go back and impose a 4 per cent cut across the whole sector. You repudiate the claim that you make.
Mr Kaine: That is not right, either. Get it right, Bill. That is not what I said.
MR WOOD: Well, you may correct that later on. It may be useful for this Assembly if you would clearly define what you mean by that zero budgeting.
Mr Kaine: You misquote again. It is rubbing off from your leader. You continually misquote and distort.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR WOOD: I have read what you said, as a matter of fact I index it. I am quite careful at doing that.
MR KAINE: Well, quote it accurately, please.
MR WOOD: It was a brave statement, but you ought to hold to it. You cannot tell me that a 4 per cent across the board cut, across all departments, fits with that concept that you were stating here one day. It certainly does not. So, the problem is we get to fragmented policies; we get to random issues. I have got a great heap of quotes that regretfully I will not have time for, from the statement you issued yesterday. They demonstrate just that.
Mr Collaery: We will fight on the beaches - - -
MR WOOD: All the vague terms in the world, actually, Mr Collaery, every little vague term you could find. I might go through them now.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (4.33): Mr Speaker, I rise in this debate to say that I am proud to have served for the last 100 days in the Government led by Mr Kaine. And I am proud because I believe that those last 100 days have laid the foundations for strong, decisive and fair administration of the ACT for the next two years. I believe that we have direction in this Government. I believe that we have achievements, we have runs on the board, of which we can be proud, and that many more are to come.
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