Page 2997 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 August 1990
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notion of gender equity into the ministry by having an extra Minister. Perhaps that will occur. One never knows. However, I have to say that if gender equity means to this Government what it means to the Opposition, particularly as far as the rorts that are possible under the notion of gender equity are concerned, we would certainly not accept gender equity as defined by the ALP.
To use gender equity as an argument to do your friends in the other faction in the eye, by exploiting the old trick that they have the wrong sort of candidate and they get knocked off, would not be the way we would do things in this Government. If that is what Ms Follett suggests, we reject it utterly. I also reject the idea that backroom deals are part of this Government's agenda. They certainly were not part of the agenda of the Left on the last occasion that the ACT branch of the ALP met.
Mr Speaker, it is quite apparent that there are enormous pressures on Ministers of this Government, as there were pressures on Ministers of the previous Government.
Ms Follett: Yes. We coped, though - four of us.
MR HUMPHRIES: That is a matter of some doubt, Ms Follett. The mess that was left by the previous Government in the areas of health and education shows pretty clearly that it was not able to cope very successfully with the pressures of office. The fact that the hospital budget blew out by $7m apparently has nothing to do with the fact that Mr Berry was under any pressure.
I think it is quite obvious that there is pressure on governments in this place with only four Ministers. There are pressures on Opposition leaders. They cannot stand the heat and have to run out of the kitchen. I think we can prove that in a fairly empirical fashion. I do not think I need to ask those opposite to take my word for it, even though they know in their heart of hearts that it is true because they have been in that position and they had many problems.
There are pressures, and they can be demonstrated by making direct comparisons between the sizes of ministries in this place and places such as Tasmania, the Northern Territory or any other jurisdiction in this country. I think one needs only to make a comparison between those jurisdictions and this one to see that there are ample reasons why the ACT could profit from having an extra ministry or two.
I want to compare the number of members of parliament as a proportion of the population in Tasmania with the number in the ACT. On any of those standards, the ACT is undergoverned and certainly has fewer Ministers per head of population than anywhere else.
But I accept that we have to prove that. I think we are able to do so quite comprehensively by demonstrating the
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