Page 672 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 1990
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I think that we, and the Territory, can proceed with confidence on the basis of what has been achieved on this side of the chamber. This is particularly so because this Government is based on the knowledge that it has a majority of members on the floor of this Assembly, and in turn, represents the majority of electors at the first election for this Assembly. That is a very important reflection. It indicates clearly, our view, that we act for and represent the views of a majority of electors in this Territory. The previous minority Labor Government could make no such claim. As I have said, I believe that since 5 December we have put in a strong performance. I am proud of that performance.
Before I go on to list our achievements - certainly in my areas; and I think it is unfortunate Mr Wood is not here to hear this - I think we should add a disclaimer. I think that Ms Follett particularly should listen very carefully to this disclaimer. Let us be realistic. In its first 100 days, no government coming into office for the first time is able to produce what I would call ideological or characteristic legislation - legislation which characterises its own particular political platform or policy. It is always the case that in those 100 days, a government will inherit and enact the legislation of its predecessor.
If we are unable to claim, as Mrs Grassby and Ms Follett and Mr Wood have said, the legislation which we have put through or which we have shaped, modified or announced in the last 100 days, on the basis that it was prepared, initiated or in some way dealt with by the previous Government, then by the same token that previous Government had no right to claim legislation that it counted as its own. Even today I have heard Mrs Grassby say, "That was our legislation, that was ours". What counts as "our legislation"? I suggest that anything that has come near a member of the ALP belongs to the ALP, according to the interpretation put on it by the members opposite.
In fact, Mr Speaker, the claims about achievements made some time ago, after 100 days of the Follett Administration, were hollow. And on that basis, it would be wrong for any government to claim too much. I believe what we have indicated, and particularly what the Chief Minister has indicated, have been initiatives for which we can take credit, not just on the basis of what we have actually done or put in place in the way of legislation - and obviously it has to be a very small volume of legislation - but also on the basis on what we have been able to shape in the way of a vision for Canberra. I believe that that vision has been very clear and articulate.
I told Mr Wood that I would indicate some of the achievements that I believe have been made by this Government and I will now do so. I suppose it begs the
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