Page 1937 - Week 07 - Thursday, 31 May 1990
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MR KAINE: He did check the figures, Mr Berry, and I did too.
Mr Berry: No, you did not.
MR KAINE: I did too, because it was on the advice of his department that he made that comment. If Mr Berry had bothered to go to a convention that was held in Canberra 12 months ago during the election for this present Assembly, he would have heard a first assistant secretary of the Department of Finance - I believe his name was Thorn - deliver a very learned paper in terms of the financing of the ACT.
Mr Berry: Since you have been Treasurer, have you checked the figures?
MR KAINE: Yes, I have, and I am relying for the time being - - -
Mr Berry: On that bloke 12 months ago. I rest my case.
MR KAINE: He was a senior officer of the Commonwealth Department of Finance who delivered a paper and who said even then that, in his view, the gap between revenues and expenditures in the ACT was far greater than the $76m previously identified by the Grants Commission; in fact, it was then of the order of $100m. If you do not believe a senior officer of the Commonwealth Department of Finance, if you do not believe a Labor Minister for Finance advised by his department in much more recent times, then I do not know whose authority you are going to accept. So the answer is, yes, in my belief, that gap is something of the order of $100m. Despite your assertions about my qualifications as a treasurer - I will stack mine against yours any day - I happen to be a fellow of the Australian Society of Accountants. You do not get to be a fellow of the Australian Society of Accountants if you are a dumb lawyer. Mr Speaker, I was not referring to any lawyers on my side.
Members interjected.
Mr Moore: Will you withdraw it?
MR KAINE: No, I do not withdraw it. I am making the point that I do have credentials in accountancy and I have a lifetime of qualification by experience as well.
Ms Follett: On a point of order, Mr Speaker; I refer you to standing order 118, which says that the answer shall be concise and confined to the subject matter. I do not think dumb lawyers were the subject matter, although it is a great debate.
MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, if the would-be deputy Leader of the Opposition - - -
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