Page 1462 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 1 May 1990
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Mr Jensen: My point is the relevance, Mr Speaker.
MRS GRASSBY: But, Mr Speaker, nobody should be surprised by this. A look at the Chief Minister's budget strategy statement will show us numerous examples of how the Residents Rally party has sold out the principles on which they were elected simply for the glorification of Bernie, the Attorney.
The threatened closure of the Royal Canberra Hospital as part of the budget strategy is a slap in the face for those people most responsible, or perhaps irresponsible, for putting Bernie onto this giant ego trip - that is, the people of inner Canberra. Then, of course, there is the issue of education. At the time of the self-government election, many Canberra residents were upset that nine schools had been closed and replaced by four new ones. Many Canberrans were concerned about future education standards in the ACT. The Residents Rally party played on this concern and hoodwinked the people into believing that they would be more responsive to their concerns and they would consult with the community.
Of course, last year they were not in government. They actually called on the Labor Government to increase expenditure on education. Now that they are bedfellows with this capital "L" Liberal, conservative Government, we do not hear a word out of them. Of course, we would not want concern for schools and hospitals getting in the way of the Attorney-General's egomania. We would all pray that he is better at being Attorney-General than he was as a $3,000 a year man.
Then, Mr Speaker, we have the alleged erratic behaviour of Dr Kinloch. Perhaps at his more mature age he finds it more difficult to sell out his principles than do his Residents Rally colleagues.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Grassby, you are getting away from the topic.
MRS GRASSBY: No, I am not, Mr Speaker. I feel that he does not sell out his principles so easily, or perhaps the move to the Government's benches has not brought the perks he was hoping for. On the other hand, there is something more erratic occurring in the education debate. In the Chief Minister's budget strategy statement he said, "Unfortunately the legacy of oversupply of places still remains. It has now reached a level of 13,000" - or 10,000, 9,000, 6,000. They cannot even decide on how many places there are in existing schools.
Mr Kaine: Are you quoting from my speech?
MRS GRASSBY: I am quoting all the figures you keep giving us. No, I am not quoting from your speech, but we get different figures from everybody at question time. He said "vacant places in existing schools or 20 per cent more places than the number of students".
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