Page 1913 - Week 07 - Thursday, 31 May 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
what might be considered to be relatively minor benefits of convenience, based on demands of the past.
That might well refer to the Residents Rally, because it is a thing of the past; it is finished. As Ms Douglas told us last night, it is finished, because even the members of the executive are distancing themselves from the three members who have ratted on the people who elected them and have thrown in their lot with the big "K" conservative Government opposite, as Mr Moore said - the Government, I should add, that has misled the community.
I am very happy that today this Government and the Chief Minister opposite are not prepared to challenge the fact that they have misled the community. Yesterday they ranted and raved about it being out of order and called on their "Liberal" friend to take me to task, but there is not a word today which seems to indicate some acceptance of the fact that they have misled the community in relation to education. For example, they have said that they need to save $100m, but they have not even done their sums. This Chief Minister, who is also the Treasurer, has not even done his sums. He admits that over and over again. He is the one who relies on throw-away remarks in another house and does not even do his sums in the ACT context. He cannot be bothered. The figure of $100m is a convenient figure for the Chief Minister and all of his cohorts to mislead the people of Canberra with.
Mr Duby: We flushed you out, Wayne.
MR BERRY: You are the one who has been flushed out. We know all about those little puffing habits - short breaths!
Mr Humphries does not know how much he wants to save, he does not know how he is going to save it, but he wants to strike terror into the hearts of those concerned with education in the Territory by talking about closing 20 to 25 schools. It is just as well that people at meetings do not carry tomatoes, otherwise Mr Humphries would be in deep trouble. The Minister does not know the answer on the savings that he wants and he does not know how he is going to get them. He wimps out. All he can say is, "Budget Cabinet will make the decision; I don't really know; it's not my fault". The Minister has demonstrated in question time that he does not even know the cost of closing 20 to 25 schools. He has already refuted that the Chief Minister was correct in saying that education standards were going to fall.
Mr Kaine: I never said that.
MR BERRY: I refute that. I was a witness to it; the Chief Minister told a meeting of accountants that education standards would fall.
Mr Kaine: I did not.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .