Page 1677 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 May 1990
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commenced to speak on the report of the Priorities Review Board. The Chief Minister had an interrelated paper on the TAFE review which impacts quite substantially on the Priorities Review Board report and, of course, Mr Humphries has a report to give which, it will be shown, is vitally relevant to the Priorities Review Board report. It is vitally important to the people of the ACT that this afternoon they receive a very clear picture of major concerns affecting both the economy and the social fabric of the city.
There has not been a breach of convention, I suggest, Mr Speaker, in this matter. House of Representatives Practice does not indicate that the matter is prescriptive. This is a situation that we have long foreshadowed and we have clearly indicated to the community that there would be a substantive report affecting the whole future of the Territory. Mr Kaine has given one part of it. He has now given the second part of it and Mr Humphries wants to give the third part of an overall economic report on the circumstances of the Territory. Instead, Mr Speaker, we have seen motions moved that have effectively delayed the business of this house. Quite clearly, the motion of censure will come on, one presumes, but the Government sought to ensure that we did not give an articulated and broken statement on the economic circumstances of the Territory. Clearly, Mr Speaker, it is incumbent upon the Chief Minister and his Minister - in this case the Minister for Health - to make these statements as part of the overall picture that the public needs to get.
I suggest that a part of the Opposition's tactics today in moving this motion - I only speak to the motion - is to fragment the delivery of these important ministerial statements. The motion of censure can come on in due course after this package of important public statements has been made.
MR CONNOLLY (4.20): Mr Speaker, I strongly support the suspension of standing orders in these circumstances. This is an extraordinary situation in this parliament this afternoon where a censure motion against a Minister, clearly foreshadowed and clearly of substantial importance to the community, the subject of a major and damning editorial by the major metropolitan morning newspaper, is being ducked by the Government.
I put it to you that in no parliament of a State or Territory of Australia nor in the Federal Parliament would this be allowed to happen, because governments always are prepared to take it on the chin. They are prepared to have the matter debated straight off after question time. If they have got the numbers - which they usually have - the censure is defeated, but they are prepared to face the arguments and you are not. You want to keep giving these long statements in order that the press will have no time to file their stories tonight. This is a matter that the community of Canberra and the media demand to know about.
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