Page 1493 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 2 May 1990
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So far, more than 4,000 people have expressed their view that they wish to have the Ainslie Transfer Station retained. Four thousand people in the space of a couple of days have put their names to petitions which they have submitted to this Assembly. What have we had by way of response from Mr Duby? Absolutely nothing, not a word. He has treated those 4,000 citizens with absolute contempt, just as he did when he promised them no self-government. The man is a sham. He is inept as a Minister.
I presume that the action he took in closing the transfer station was taken on some sort of advice from his bureaucracy. I ask you, Mr Speaker, what sort of advice would lead to this kind of an outcome and what kind of a Minister would accept that advice? What kind of a Minister would say, "Oh well, there appears to be no option"? What action did he take in relation to his department to ensure that other options were considered, to ensure that there was a proper debate on this matter? I suspect the answer is "none whatsoever". He has demonstrated, as people had long suspected, that he is absolutely inept in his ministry. He is a disgrace to the Government and a disgrace to this Assembly.
Dr Kinloch, after an initial burst of enthusiasm for the Ainslie Transfer Station and after putting out a press release in which he said that he would follow up this matter within the Alliance Government, has gone to water. Dr Kinloch, who lives in the north Canberra area, as I do, initially came out looking like a hero on the subject, as he does so many times. But, of course, when the acid was put on him he backed right down.
He initially and quite rightly said that the matter was before the Assembly's committee and that no action should be taken until there had been a response to the committee's report. Absolutely correct; I could not agree with him more. But now he has been worn down and has gone to water on the whole issue. He is now not willing to even remain in the Assembly while it is debated and I presume he is being got at by his Alliance colleagues who have ordered him to not make any further statements on this matter.
Obviously, Dr Kinloch does not have the courage of his convictions, does not even have the courage to forge ahead in the interests of the people of north Canberra, the area where he himself lives. His conscience lasts only as long as the last press release, I am afraid. When it comes to putting the battle to his own colleagues in the Alliance Government, he is nowhere to be seen. He has made very little contribution to this whole debate. We know from his own public pronouncements that he was never consulted on the matter. He was never consulted on a matter of importance which affected the residents in the area where he lives and yet he has made no further protest - he has gone to water, wimped out.
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