Page 2930 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 August 1990
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... and I intend to ensure, notwithstanding whatever might be said in the media, that we continue to work with Dr Perkins to establish common ground, common assumptions and common methodology to work out the extent of savings.
Let me repeat that last little bit:
... to work out the extent of savings.
So there we are. Dr Frances Perkins is teaching the Minister how to do his job. How shameful that is. Surely he should be censured for that alone. Regrettably, the Minister's confidence in his ability is not justified. He is causing havoc to this system. Even after all this long dragging out of information that we have had to do, it still cannot be got right. Schools are still coming back to the Minister saying, "Look, you just were not right. You have forgotten about these children". Those schools that he condemned are now showing where he was wrong. When are we going to get the data correct? He has forgotten these children - the hearing impaired children's unit at Weetangera; the special needs children at Rivett. Perhaps - I am not sure of this - the special group at Curtin South school simply was not recognised as located in that school.
And that says it all. The Minister has forgotten the children. That is his third and most miserable failure - he does not care for the children. He is to be condemned and censured above all for that. Mr Speaker, I wonder who has confidence in this Minister.
Mr Duby: We do.
MR WOOD: Not the community. I suggest to the Minister that he try running for the Senate, and he will see whether people have confidence in him. Of course, his party would not put him up because they know he could not get a third of the vote - that is all that is needed. For the first time Canberra would not have a Liberal senator. The people in the community have no confidence in him, whether they are parents or not. They have no respect for his administration - for that destructive administration.
I doubt whether Mr Humphries' colleagues have much confidence in him. Dr Kinloch has spoken, and may speak again. Will Ms Maher speak today? If and when Ms Maher speaks, will she talk about that meeting at the OEC that we both attended when experts from the community expressed so vividly the careful nature of the planning that goes into our neighbourhood schools - that whole concept? I wonder whether Ms Maher will express great confidence in the Minister. Maybe she will.
Will Mrs Nolan speak? If she speaks, will she do so with confidence? We remember yesterday when Mrs Nolan responded
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