Page 2993 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 August 1990
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MS FOLLETT (Leader of the Opposition) (3.29): Mr Speaker, I think that there is one key issue in Mr Collaery's motion, and that is: who is in charge of the Government? It seems absolutely extraordinary to me that the motion has been put forward by the Deputy Chief Minister, not the Chief Minister. It is equally clear that the motion has nothing to do with the needs of this Territory, the need for good government, or with the workload of Ministers.
Yesterday we heard Mr Collaery put forward his so-called case for the expansion of the ministry by up to 50 per cent. We heard not a word about the workload of Ministers. Mr Collaery did not spell out to us, for example, how onerous it is for him to have to leave this evening for New Zealand to attend a sports Ministers conference, go to two rugby matches over the weekend, and then stay on for the week.
We have heard nothing about the number of people who have not been able to get in to see any Minister or, indeed, any Government member.
Mr Collaery: You wouldn't know.
MS FOLLETT: They come to us. We have heard nothing about the number of people who have written in vain to members of this Government but who have not even had an acknowledgment. Had Mr Collaery raised any of those points by way of a workload argument, he might have been listened to. We have not heard any hard evidence put forward. Had Mr Collaery put forward an argument that they needed to expand the ministry for, for instance, gender equity reasons - they might like to have a woman Minister - we could have entertained such an argument. But no such argument was put. Instead, what we had from Mr Collaery was his usual tirade against the Australian Labor Party and his usual ravings against the Federal member for Canberra, Mrs Kelly - the person whom he expects to implement his little wish list.
As I have said, the motion that Mr Collaery has put up has absolutely nothing to do with the good government of this Territory. What it does have an awful lot to do with is the backroom deals - the accord to which Mrs Nolan has referred is just such a backroom deal - and the competing egos that absolutely characterise this Government.
Mr Speaker, I suggest that if members doubt my arguments about competing egos they refer to Mr Ken Begg's article on Mr Collaery in the Canberra Times of last Sunday. I chose it to be a send-up of Mr Collaery, but some people do not think so. He said about Mr Collaery:
And he enjoys power ... he wields much of the power in the Alliance Government - perhaps too much.
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