Page 2989 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 August 1990
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DAY OF NEXT MEETING
Motion (by Mr Collaery) agreed to:
That the Assembly, at its rising, adjourn until Tuesday, 11 September 1990, unless the Speaker fixes an alternative day or hour of meeting on receipt of a request in writing from an absolute majority of Members.
MINISTERS - NUMBER APPOINTED
Debate resumed from 15 August, on motion by Mr Collaery:
That this Assembly -
(a) resolves that for the purposes of sub-section 41(1) of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 of the Commonwealth the number of Ministers for the Territory the Chief Minister shall appoint be fixed by regulation at a number not less than three (3) and not exceeding five (5); and
(b) requests that the Speaker address the Governor-General in the terms of this resolution.
MR CONNOLLY (3.19): I will take the call, Mr Acting Speaker - I am sorry, Mr Speaker.
Mr Moore: A Freudian slip.
MR CONNOLLY: I am used to referring to Mr Acting Speaker, Mr Speaker.
Mr Moore: Mr Temporary Speaker.
MR CONNOLLY: Perhaps there is something I do not know that I should know, judging from the amusement from the other side. Mr Speaker, this proposal to expand the ministry from three, or four including the Chief Minister, to either five or six could not have come at a more outrageous time for the Canberra community.
On the day on which those opposite voted down a motion condemning school closures, the pressing issue before every resident of Canberra, we have, later that afternoon, snouts in the trough to increase the front bench - less schools, more Ministers. What an indictment on self-government! What an indictment on the handling of the public affairs of this Territory! What incredible insensitivity to the views of the community!
We should not, I suppose, have been surprised at such insensitivity. Consistently in this house we have not been given the facts on issues of school closure. We have consistently discovered that the best answer to a question
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