Page 2333 - Week 08 - Thursday, 7 June 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Government Party member that this move will be treated with anger and dismay by the community. This person who supported these moves to increase rates is somebody who has fooled the electorate once and has no conscience. That is clear as a result of his actions and as a result of his being found out. He was rightly called upon to resign because - - -
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Berry, surely this is not relevant.
MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, this is talking about the quality of this decision.
MR SPEAKER: Well, that is not what it sounded like to me. Please proceed.
MR BERRY: And the quality, of course, has a lot to do with the background of this Minister. This Minister has paraded himself as a Minister in a government that set out to be a responsible government, and in that parade he has disgraced himself on a number of occasions.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Berry, that is not relevant. Please get to the point at issue.
MR BERRY: This is the next step in that parade of disgraceful conduct. This Minister has no mandate to do anything in relation to self-government. He certainly has no mandate to destroy the credibility of the future of government in this Territory by such stupid actions. There was no need for this additional rate hike. It is simply because of the Liberal philosophy which the Government members opposite have adopted. It is a Liberal philosophy which requires ordinary working people to pay more and big business to pay less. That is what this Liberal philosophy is about.
Here is a man who just talks about doing something responsible; here is somebody who has been rounded up for short breaths and has been roundly criticised for his behaviour as a Minister - and he talks about responsibility! Well, that is a joke. This callous move will be seen for what it is, the Chief Minister will wear it, and it will add to the large crop of arguments that will be supported amongst the community for his eventual dismissal.
The Labor Party made an election pledge, and the Labor Party in the ACT is known for sticking to its pledges.
Mr Kaine: This is hypocrisy.
MR BERRY: Well, I see the Chief Minister is getting a bit agitated. This is the accountant who behaves like a bookkeeper. Mr Speaker, this is the Chief Minister who in his election campaign said he would look closely at the books and all of the debts that were owed by the Territory, and he reckoned there was no need for any increases in
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .